For example, a 5-megawatt wind farm featuring 10 wind turbines with 500 kW capacity each, has already been constructed in Crete (Greece: Renewable Energy Fact Sheet, 2007, p. 3). Although this wind farm facility is generating electricity, it is also serving as an experimental operation that uses two kinds of wind turbines that were provided by different manufacturers to assess their efficiency and to identify other locations in Europe that might be suitable for such operations (Greece: Renewable Energy Fact Sheet 2007). Although it is reasonable to suggest that Greece could benefit from any and all of the foregoing alternative energy resources, the potential for solar energy application in the country appears to represent one of the more viable approaches for the future, and these issues are discussed further below.
Potential for Solar Energy Applications in Greece
Solar energy would appear to be a natural for Greece; after all, the Greek people have used solar power for millennia. For example, Rosentreter reports that, "The application of solar power is not a new idea. The ancient Greeks developed mirrors that would direct the sun's rays and cause a target to burst into flames within seconds" (2000, p. 8). Current policies concerning renewable energy resources in Greece are based in part on the need to conform to the larger European energy policy concerning the mandate to develop sustainable, competitive and secure energy supplies. In this regard, in January 2007, the European Commission adopted an energy policy for Europe that was supported by several documents on different aspects of energy and included an action plan to meet the major energy challenges faced by the European Union (Greece: Renewable Energy Fact Sheet, 2007).
While hydropower has been a significant source of alternative energy for Greece for some time, there have been increasing applications of wind power, geothermal and active solar thermal systems in recent years as well. Legislation passed by the Greek government has also helped to promote interest and research into alternative energy resources by eliminating many of the administrative burdens on the renewable energy sector (Greece: Renewable Energy Fact Sheet, 2007). A number of ambitious national goals for the use of various alternative energy resources have been established in Greece pursuant to the European Union Directive, but present trends indicate that these goals may not be achieved without significantly more support from the government and interest on the part of the private sector (Greece: Renewable Energy Fact Sheet, 2007).
Some of the recent initiatives undertaken by the Greek government to stimulate interest in alternative energy resources include a 20% reduction of taxable income on expenses for domestic appliances or systems that use renewable energy sources as well as revised bidding procedures to promote the use of geothermal energy. In addition, Greece has introduced the following mechanisms to help stimulate the growth of renewable energy resources throughout the country:
1. Feed-in tariffs were introduced in 1994 and amended by the recently approved Feed-in Law. Tariffs are now technology specific, instead of uniform, and a guarantee of 12 years is given, with a possibility of extension to up to 20 years.
2. Liberalisation of RES-E development is the subject of Law 2773/1999.
3. Fossil fuel taxes are not applied to biofuels.
4. Tax incentives were in place to promote RES-H, but these have been suspended for budgetary reasons.
According to Richardson (2008), the feed-in tariffs described above are a financial incentive that has been used by the governments of Spain, the United States, Greece and Portugal to attract new investment in solar-powered technologies. As described by Richardson, "Typically the feed-in tariff operates so that customers of large utility firms receive a fixed price for the surplus energy diat their renewable resource generates over a fixed period, and for every unit of energy it produces, the local government provides an additional revenue stream as an incentive" (2008, p. 31).
Currently, electricity generated by renewable energy resources such as hydropower and onshore wind power remain the most important, with 4,369 GWh and 1,041 GWh in 2004, respectively, having grown at an average annual rate of 61% and 27% between 1997 and 2004, respectively (Greece: Renewable Energy Fact Sheet, 2007). A breakdown of electricity generation in Greece using alternative energy resources during the period 1997 to 2004 is provided in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1. Electricity generation in Greece from renewable energy sources by type (GWh): 1991-2004
Source: Greece: Renewable Energy Fact Sheet, 2007
At present, biomass provides the majority of heating from renewable energy resources in Greece (920 ktoe out of 1051 ktoe in 2004); however, there have also been increases in the solar thermal sector, and the highest average annual growth has been from geothermal sources which increased 28% during the period 1997 to 2004 (Greece: Renewable Energy Fact Sheet, 2007). The respective penetration rates of biomass heat, solar thermal heat and geothermal heat are set forth in Table 1 and graphically depicted in Figure 2 below.
Table 1
Alternative energy resource...
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