“We are planning for Greece to turn from an importer of electricity into a net exporter of green electricity”, the Minister of Environment and Energy pointed out, among other things
Greece “turns from an importer of electricity into a pure exporter of green electricity,” he stressed the Minister of Environment and Energy, Kostas Skrekasunderlining that the country is already developing into a key pillar of Southeastern Europe’s energy security, while attracting significant foreign investment.
“Only by 2022, we will install more renewable energy sources (RES) of those installed from 2015 to 2018″ noted Mr. Skrekas, who participated today in the meeting of energy ministers organized by the German Ministry of Economy, within the framework of the “Berlin Process” for the Western Balkans.
Speaking to Greek correspondents, the Minister of Environment mentioned among other things in doubling Greece’s electrical interconnections with its neighboring countries, in increasing natural gas interconnections and expanding infrastructure to accommodate ships with liquefied natural gas (LNG), which will be regasified and exported to northern countries, in order to ensure supply sufficiency. Indicatively, he noted that “our electrical interconnections with Italy, North Macedonia and Bulgaria are doubling, while the capacity of the corresponding interconnection with Albania will also triple by the end of the decade.”
“We are planning Greece, from an electricity importing country to become a clean exporter of green electricity’, underlined Mr. Skrekas and added that the installation of renewable energy sources – wind farms and photovoltaics – has greatly increased, while the installation of energy storage systems is also being promoted, e.g. batteries and pumping systems. “We aspire to be able to export this green energy to northern countries, as far as Austria and Germany,” said the minister and referred to the proposal for an electrical interconnection with Austria and Germany recently submitted by the Greek government. “In this way we will be able to transport green electricity at very competitive prices to Austria and especially to Southern Germany, where there is a very high need for green electricity,” he said. “Greece has significantly upgraded its role”, continued Mr. Skrekas and spoke of “cosmogony” in the country’s energy sector, which now attracts the interest of many foreign investors, due to its economic and political stability. Asked to comment on the choice of the German governments to make the country so dependent on Russia for energy, he noted that in the past “energy security was taken for granted”, clarifying, however, that Greece had chosen a different path for two decades. “Greece can also show the way in Europe in the field of energy”, added the Minister of Environment and Energy.
Regarding tomorrow’s meeting of the European Union’s energy ministers in Luxembourg, Kostas Skrekas also pointed out that Europe should decide how to ensure affordable energy and natural gas prices for Europeans. “Next winter, Europe cannot allow consumers, households and businesses to suffer under the burden of huge increases in energy prices,” he said characteristically, and added that 15 member states have already signed up with the proposal for a horizontal ceiling on natural gas prices, submitted last March by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “We expect the rest of the countries to come together, so that we can reach a mechanism that will ensure, on the one hand, low prices, and on the other hand, adequacy and security of natural gas supply for Europe”, he concluded.
THE German Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck, stated after the conclusion of the meeting of the energy ministers, that “the release of production from fossil fuels and the path towards climate neutrality, are important challenges for the region, but they also hide great opportunities, as the current energy crisis shows us more than ever that we must free ourselves from Russian imports as soon as possible.” The expansion of RES will reduce dependencies and increase the security of energy supply, especially if the regional cooperation in the energy sector between the Western Balkan countries is strengthened, Mr. Hambek stressed – and pledged the support he will offer to this effort in Berlin, in the context of the “Berlin Process”
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