Greece clears British, French energy investments

Two large projects totaling 386 million euros in renewable energy have been cleared by Greece's strategic investments committee, freeing up deals that had been delayed for years.

The decision paves the way for entry into the Greek market one of the UK's largest players in renewable power, SolarCentury. According to sources, British officials have informed the Greek government of the intentions of SolarCentury and other energy groups to invest in Greece. SolarCentury is pushing a 214 million euro investment, via Consortium Solar Power Systems, on the construction and operation of solar power plants located in 12 parts of Thessaly and mainland Greece, with a total capacity of 284 MW. This is a plan that had been shelved for years by Enterprise Greece as a strategic investment due to a lack of approval from the relevant committee.

Established in 1998, SolarCentury has set up 1,000 solar energy parks with a total capacity of 1.6 GWp in four continents. At the moment it is building solar parks in Europe and South America, along with hybrid units in Africa.

The Greek government committee also approved an electricity production investment via wind and solar power with a total capacity of 177 MW from EAST PV AE and NOTIAS SA, companies belonging to France's Total Eren SA. The investment totals 172 million euros and involves the development of 16 power producing units with a capacity of 177 MW in the regions of Serres and Viotia.