Economically
depressed Greece is working to become the EU's largest exporter of
solar-generated electricity, the Greek energy minister said. Talks with
investors from Italy and Luxembourg are already underway.
The planned
state-sponsored project "Helios" is expected to pour annual revenues
to the tune of 15 billion euros ($19.5 billion) into empty Greek state coffers
and create 60,000 jobs, Greece's Energy Minister George Papakonstantinou said
on Monday.
The money
should be used to repay the country's enormous debt and help EU countries meet
the bloc's CO2 reduction target, he told German newspaper "Die Welt."
"We
have begun talks with Italy and Luxembourg," he said, adding that Germany
too, was showing an interest in the "negotiations."
Papakonstantinou
expressed the hope that the implementation of the solar energy project might
start "already this year," producing solar-generated electricity for
exports as early as 2014.
However,
some funding problems "remain unresolved" at the moment, he added.
The Helios
project alone, once fully operational, has a planned capacity of 10,000
megawatts - about two thirds of the current solar energy production of Germany,
whose renewable energy sector has been booming for years, boosted by plentiful
state subsidies.
Crucial
connections
Greece
ranks sixth among a group of 35 countries deemed most lucrative for
photo-voltaic investment, according to the latest available Renewable Energy
Country Attractiveness Index published by the Ernst & Young consultancy
group in May 2011.
Greece
needs 20 billion euros for the project, and said it wanted to provide investors
with state land to ensure investments were "free of any administrative,
legal and bureaucratic barriers."
Describing
the project as a "huge chance," EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger
told a solar energy conference in Athens two weeks ago that "Greece could
promote economic growth, while other countries could benefit from inexpensive
energy imports."
However,
the current transport infrastructure for electricity in Greece was "insufficient"
to distribute the "massive" solar power generated by the Helios
project, he added.
uhe/ai (AFP, dpa
Reuters)
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