Greek PV market 'about to take off'

Greece is expected to accelerate solar development in the coming years. Growing demand from Greek companies for renewable energy off-take agreements and the European Union’s clean energy policy are driving the sector.

The general manager of the Greek Industry Group's renewable energy and energy storage development business said that there is currently "high demand" for power purchase agreements (PPAs) for renewable energy in Greece.

The Greek solar market is about to take off, and the strong growth trend in new solar projects in Greece this year will continue.

Annual PV development in Greece more than tripled year-on-year in 2021, from 500MW to 1.6GW, a boom largely driven by ground-based projects below 500kW. Recently, the Greek government extended grid connection rates until the end of 2022.

Target this year to develop and build at least 1.6GW of solar

Currently, Greece has 85GW of solar projects. Most of Greece's large energy stakeholders are eyeing domestic solar sector investments.

Recently, the Greek utility company and the German energy giant formed a joint venture to develop a 2GW large-scale ground-based solar power plant project in Greece. Last week, Italian energy companies announced their entry into the Greek renewable energy market. Rosen Solar is a PV project developer with 800MW of projects.

Meanwhile, after acquiring about 1.5GW of Greek solar power plants and 21 battery storage projects in February last year, the company said the move would "fundamentally change" the company's offerings and scale.

Demand for solar PPAs from Greek businesses and utilities has been on the rise, especially over the last year. "The market has learned more and there is a huge demand for renewable PPA".

Like other markets in Europe, Greece's solar industry is being driven by EU policies, such as the "Fit for 55" package proposed by the European Commission last year. The plan proposes to increase the share of renewable energy in EU final consumption to 40% by 2030.

Plans to develop 2GW of photovoltaics in 2021

In the last year, the challenges of sourcing and shipping components have been experienced. There will be a lack of component supply "for most of" 2021. Due to shipping issues, even if the components could be sourced, it was difficult to ship and deliver them in a timely manner.

The geographic distribution of the renewable energy business has not changed much over the past two years. Key solar markets developed by the company include Australia, South Korea, Southern Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Romania and Chile.

"The year before, we faced unique difficulties and challenges, but we did a great job and achieved growth, which shows the resilience of our business model."

He said the goal this year is to develop and build 1.6GW-2GW of solar PV projects globally.