Greece is expected to abandon solid fossil fuels by 2028, both for environmental and economic reasons. To smoothen the transition, the Greek government has prepared a comprehensive plan to aid lignite phase-off and provide developmental support.

More than €2 billion is to be spent on four investment projects in renewable energy plants, including €888 million on 1.5GW of solar PV parks across 12 regions of Central and Northern Greece, and a further €421.6 million on 37 PV plants with a total capacity of 830MW in Larissa, Magnesia and Kilkis.

The remaining investment will go towards one offshore wind development with 360MW and a 120.3MW onshore wind project in Xanthi and Rodopi.

The four projects will also create more than 300 jobs.

Meanwhile, Greece’s state-owned Public Power Corporation was mandated to develop the solar parks as part of a wider €5 billion roadmap to support the phase-out of coal generation by 2028.

pv-tech.org, 24 December 2020