The Greek company Positive Energy has initially concentrated on the solar market and has a total installed capacity of 15 MWp and over 20 MWp contracted projects in progress throughout Greece. In May of this year, it was awarded an EPC contract the largest photovoltaic park in Greece.
Athens-born Konstantinos Mavros is Positive Energy’s CEO and recently talked to Renewable Energy Magazine about his company’s work and the opportunities Greece has to offer investors, in spite of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis. “Greece is a promising market because it has good incentives for PV in place. There is a generous FIT guaranteed for 20 years (and even 25 years for the residential sector), hundreds of active PV companies, a PV manufacturing base, and readily accessible PV project finance,” he says.
Mavros is upbeat despite the difficulties his country is experiencing. “Although Greece is in the middle of a serious financial crisis, the PV business has not been affected. PV is probably the only sector in the country developing at its current pace”. Mavros reports that for two consecutive years, the market tripled its volume, and it is expected to follow this growth trajectory in the coming years.
The Greek government has set an indicative target of 1.4 GWp installed PV by the end of 2014. Considering that we will have a bit more than 150 MWp installed by the end of 2010, there are obviously many business prospects for the next years and Mavros is keen to point out that banks are backing this roll-out.
“Despite the general credit squeeze, banks are continually willing to finance PV projects. In fact they have taken a very positive role in advertising PV and building the image of our product, and we are in close cooperation with them,” reveals Mavros. Although the outlook is positive, Mavros does highlight that an effort is still required to make it easier and quicker to develop renewables projects in Greece. “Today, the time needed for the development of projects in Greece is beyond the European average,” he reveals. “if I had the opportunity of asking the Greek Prime Minister for just one thing, it would be to take all appropriate measures to remove unnecessary bureaucratic barriers which may prevent Greece from reaching its high targets.”
Thankfully, Mavros believes that the Government has already identified and examined most of these barriers, the options for their elimination are on the table and this is a totally feasible task. Time will tell whether this view point is well founded.
To read more about Mavros’s take on the Greek renewables sector, click below to access his exclusive interview with Renewable Energy Magazine:
Interview with Konstantinos Mavros, CEO of Positive Energy
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