HELAPCO (Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Companies) has forwarded a letter to the newly appointed Production Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Minister, Panos Skourletis, containing a list of proposals intended to reignite activity in the local photovoltaic market.
The organization, sent a list of proposals and included the establishment of a tariff for systems of up to 500 KW and premiums for systems with capacities of over 1 MW, Energypress.eu reported. In its letter, HELAPCO noted its proposals would ensure direct and swift growth for the sector, and added this would create thousands of jobs without any burden on the country’s fiscal matters or consumers, while also promoting environmental interests.
At present, the photovoltaic market is confronted by detrimental effects caused by the imposition of capital controls as well as considerably low tariffs offered for photovoltaic energy production, which cannot guarantee the sustainability of sector investments, the association noted. Last year proved to be extremely disappointing for the photovoltaic sector. Total amount of instalment activity represented just 1.5% of installations made in 2013, while thousands of jobs were shed, the report said. New policy efforts aiming to rectify previous institutional shortcomings ended up proving disastrous for the sector, the association noted in its letter.
Even so, solar power systems managed to cover 7% of the country’s electricity needs in 2014, the highest level of all renewable energy source options, the report said. Also, those systems helped reduce the wholesale price of electricity by an average of EUR 3.38 per MWh in 2013 and 2014, according to studies conducted by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the association added.
However, in solar thermal energy Greece had the biggest expansion last year among the markets followed by Balkan Green Energy News, adding 189.4 MW to top an overall capacity of 3 GW, making it third in the EU.
