Greek hopes for economic recovery rest on an illusion

Solar energy will not save Greece

If there still are some people, who have the illusion that Greece could be able to return to real growth under the present regime, these words by PM Lucas Papademos must mean the end of that false hope: 

"The (solar) energy sector gives Greece an opportunity to become a hub for the European Union and third countries.”
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PM Lucas Papademos, who recently spoke at a renewable energy and infrastructure development summit in Athens, said that investment in green energy was a “national priority” to boost economic growth. Project Helios is the Greek government’s massive initiative to ramp up solar power production from 206 MW to 2.2. GW by 2020 and up to 10 GW by 2050. The country is aiming to become the EU’s largest exporter of green energy.
The government hopes that this plan will attract the investment needed and Greece can then transform itself into an exporter of solar power and help other EU countries to meet their renewable targets. Greece’s Energy and Climate Change Minister, George Papakonstantinou, also launched a draft renewable energy plan which will ensure that the country meets EU targets to deliver 80 percent emissions cuts by 2050.

Günther Oettinger, EU Commissioner for Energy, thinks that the Greek solar project will succeed:

“Helios is a unique opportunity to demonstrate that renewable energy technologies like photovoltaics are becoming competitive in the near future through European cooperation. It could be the showcase project on the way to a truly integrated European market for electricity from renewable sources, while simultaneously helping the Greek economy to recover.”


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Papademos and Oettinger - like most other EU leaders - live in a "renewable green energy" dream world of their own, far from the realities of the energy sector. Solar power is failing just about everywhere - why on the earth should it succeed in Greece, of all places?