Solar power in Greece

Solar power in Greece has been driven by a combination of government incentives and equipment cost reductions. The installation boom started in the late 2000s with feed-in tariffs has evolved into a market featuring auctions, power purchase agreements, and self-generation.^[1] The country's relatively high level of solar insolation is an advantage boosting the effectiveness of solar panels; within Europe, Greece receives 50% more solar irradiation than Germany.^[2]

In 2022, solar power accounted for 12.6% of total electricity generation in Greece, up from 0.3% in 2010 and less than 0.1% in 2000.^[3] The national government's 2023 National Energy & Climate Plan anticipates solar PV capacity rising from 4.8 GW in 2022 to 14.1 GW in 2030, and 34.5 GW in 2050.^[4]

History

Broad development of solar power in Greece started in the 2000s, with installations of photovoltaic systems skyrocketing from 2009 because of the appealing feed-in tariffs introduced and the corresponding regulations for domestic applications of rooftop solar PV. However, funding the FITs created an unacceptable deficit of more than €500 million in the Greek "Operator of Electricity Market" RES fund. To reduce that deficit, new regulations were introduced in August 2012 including retrospective feed-in tariffs reduction,^[5] with further reductions over time.^[6] These measures enabled the deficit to be erased by 2017.^[7]

Auctions have replaced FITs and after stagnating since 2013, as of 2019 Greece was again installing hundreds of MWp per year.^[7]

By April 2015, the total installed photovoltaic capacity in Greece had reached 2,442.6 MW_p from which 350.5 MW_p were installed on rooftops and the rest were ground mounted.^[8] Greece ranks 5th worldwide with regard to per capita installed PV capacity.^[7]

Installed capacity

Greek solar power development^{[9][10][11][3]}

Year	Capacity (MW)	Watts per capita	Electricity generation %
2010	205	18	0.3%
2020	3,287	304	9.2%
2022	5,270	493	12.6%

List of power stations

Current

Greece's largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants^[12][13]

Location	Capacity	Description	Constructed
Kozani	204 MW	Park of Kozani[14]	2022
Naoussa	7+7 MW	Photovoltaic plants cluster	2013
Florina	4.3 MW	Florina industrial zone	2009
Volos	2 MW	Photovoltaic power plant Volos	2009
Thebes	2 MW	Photovoltaic power plant Thebes	2009
Koutsopodi	1.997 MW		2009
Tripoli	1.99 MW		2009
Pournari	1.25 MW		2009
Iliopenditiki	1 MW		2009
Pontoiraklia	944 kW		2009
Kythnos	100 kW		2009
Sifnos	60 kW		1998
Tavros, ILPAP Building	20 kW		2009
Ethel Station	20 kW		2009
Maroussi, Eirini metro station	20 kW		2009

Future

Greece's largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants^[13][15]

Location	Capacity	Description	Constructed
Megalopoli	50 MW	Park of Megalopoli	–
Crete	0.48 MW	Park of Atherinolakos	–

See also

• Renewable energy in Greece
• Wind power in Greece
• Desertec
• Solar power
• Solar power in the European Union
• Solar power by country
• Renewable energy by country

References

1. ^ Nick Hedley (2024-02-14). "How Greece became a solar leader". The Progress Playbook. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
2. ^ Alexia Kalaitzi (2024-02-19). "Energy democracy takes off in Greece". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Share of electricity production from solar - Greece". Our World in Data. 2023. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
4. ^ Anu Bhambhani (2023-01-20). "Greece Targets 34.5 GW Total PV Capacity By 2050". TaiyangNews. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
5. ^ New feed‐in‐tariffs for PV in Greece (Feb 2012)
6. ^ HELAPCO: The Greek PV Market
7. ^ ^{a b c} "Greek PV Market Investment Opportunities" (PDF). HELAPCO. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
8. ^ LAGIE: DAS Monthly Reports
9. ^ "Photovoltaic Barometer 2011". EurObserv’ER. 2010-11-28. p. 7/22. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
10. ^ "Photovoltaic Barometer 2022". EurObserv’ER. 2022-04-28. p. 2/6. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
11. ^ "Photovoltaic Barometer 2023". EurObserv’ER. 2023-05-05. p. 2/7. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
12. ^ Large-scale photovoltaic power plants located in Greece Archived 2010-01-04 at the Wayback Machine
13. ^ ^{a b} PPC Renewables Photovoltaic Parks Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
14. ^ "Hellenic Petroleum brings live 204-MW solar park in Greece". List.Solar. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
15. ^ PPC to develop a large photovoltaic project in Kozani Archived 2012-03-12 at the Wayback Machine

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