In a recent conference entitled “Photovoltaic Systems in Greece”, Yiannis Vouyiouklakis, head of Greece’s Renewable Energy Sources Centre development section said that this spectacular growth in the solar PV sector was the result of legislative changes over the last few years aimed at boosting the market’s development.
Vouyiouklakis stated that the market’s growth has also been helped by an impressive drop in the cost of purchasing solar panels, which has fallen by over 35% over the last year. The Greek solar PV market is clearly attracting the attention of investors wishing to fund projects in the Mediterranean. Although Giorgos Vokas, secretary general of the Association of Photovoltaic Companies, warns that bureaucracy has cut the market’s potential growth rate, generous feed-in tariffs and state subsidies of up to 40% for most commercial applications should ensure returns on investment of 15-30%. Consequently, Greece is expected to enter the global top ten of PV markets in 2010, following on from the success of its Mediterranean neighbours, Spain and Italy.
The Greek PV industry is also undergoing rapid upstream and downstream development. Hundreds of PV companies are already active in Greece, including major international players, and new manufacturing facilities are being built. Furthermopre, public and media support for solar PV is strong, especially since the introduction of the rooftop PV programme in June 2009. "After years of promises, I really believe Greece is now ready to become a major PV market in the world," said Stelios Psomas, a leading Greek PV consultant and author of the market report "The Greek solar PV market, the next Mediterranean PV tiger".
Over the last 24 months, potential investors have filed more than 8,000 applications for commercial PV systems, with an accumulated capacity of 3.7 GWp. Only 30 MWp had been constructed by mid-2009, while the annual market for 2009 is forecast to be in the region of 35-40 MWp. Over the next two to three years, the market is predicted to exceed100 MWp annually.
Residential roof-top PV systems below 10 kWp will become an important market segment, with a generous feed-in tariff of €0.55/kWh guaranteed for 25 years. Meanwhile, grid parity is not expected before 2014-2018, as retail electricity prices are comparatively low in Greece.
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