Volos to build first municipal solar park in Greece, subsidize poor families

The Municipality of Volos launched a project for a photovoltaic facility of 50 MW, intended to help it lower energy costs of its buildings and utility firms and assist low-income households. An agricultural cooperative is building a solar complex with small energy communities in the same area, while two companies have a 284 MW solar power system in the pipeline which should include Volos.

A local authority in Thessaly is emerging on the national map of renewable energy. The Municipality of Volos said it would be first in Greece to install a solar park, worth up to EUR 30 million. Surplus annual revenue, estimated at EUR 3 million, is planned to be distributed to households with the lowest incomes.

Mayor claims investment program to be initiated by year-end 

Municipal buildings and firms consume electricity worth EUR 6.9 million or 77 GWh per year, according to Mayor Achilleas Beos. He said revenue from the 50 MW solar park would be also used for general purposes in Volos. Beos added the project would be included in an investment program by the end of the year as a pioneering initiative.

The proposed locations span 70 hectares near Alykes and 100 hectares in Nea Anchialos, southeast of the city.

Agricultural, energy cooperatives building photovoltaic cluster of 54 MW

Separately, the Agricultural Cooperative of Volos revealed it is making progress in the construction of a 54 MW complex of solar parks, worth EUR 30 million. Its representatives claim the project with energy communities founded by its members could expand to EUR 55 million.

At least 10 MW is already finished and the entire photovoltaic system in Volos and the neighboring Magnesia municipality of Rigas Feraios is scheduled to be complete by May, as per the latest information. The cooperative, founded almost a century ago, participates in the investments with 20%.

A solar park cluster with a total capacity of 100 MW is about to be finished in Aetolia-Acarnania as the first such unit built under the energy cooperative model. There is substantial interest across the country, and particularly in the Western Macedonia region, for such projects, which allow locals to invest at a small scale.

Volos included in 284 MW solar project with strategic investment status

Also of note, Consortium Solar Power Systems, owned by Solar Century from the United Kingdom, is planning to install a string of photovoltaic plants in Thessaly and Central Greece in cooperation with Public Power Corp. (PPC), a Greek state-owned energy company.

One of the locations is in Volos and the companies are waiting for a green light from the municipality. The 284 MW endeavor has a strategic investment status.