HOW-TO: 20kW solar parks in Greece

Dimitris — Sun, 25 May 2008 17:05:00 +0000

Since there is great confusion and misconceptions in the Greek solar market, we are creating a how-to series to present a rough outline of what investors need to know and follow in order to install a 20kW (or less) solar park in mainland Greece. Only for mainland, since RAE has to be involved for any grid-connected solar installation in the islands which makes matters more complicated and time-consuming.

As a backgrounder, a 20kW solar park in Greece currently costs somewhere in the region of ? 100k. 25% of this has to be self-funded, 40% is subsidized by the Greek state and the rest can be anything, typically a loan.

So what does an investor need?

First of all, you need to have access to a piece of land that is more than 4000sq.m. outside city areas or as big as the solar park dictates in city areas (solar parks need planning permission; to get one for any kind of building outside city areas, you need at least 4000sq.m.). You can buy or rent the land.
You must register a company and assign the piece of land to it.
Issue an RFP and get lots of proposals. Differentiation between companies are usually material quality and cost.
Apply to the national electricity carrier (DEH) for connection to the grid network.
Apply for the Greek subsidy.
Sign an agreement with the electricity carrier (DEH) to connect your supply to its network.
Sign an agreement with the company that will be buying your produced power (DESMHE)
Sign an agreement with the material supplier/installer and start materializing the park.
Complete the installation and connect to the grid.
Present a progress and completion report to the Greek state to get the subsidy.

Overall, the process can take up to a year and investors are more likely to spend more than ?50k to kick-off the project since the subsidy will kick in much later. Banks are moving in to provide solar-oriented loans but with relatively high interest (compared to Germany and Spain).

Smaller investors may be reluctant to spend ?100k in a unproven (in the Greek market) investment. However, we expect it to be a matter of time before the Greek public realizes that solar is among the investments that provide quickest turn-around and return of investment. We estimate that for the solar park will pay for itself in 5 years, after which a monthly payment of approximately ?1000 will result from the electricity sold to DESMHE.

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HOW-TO: 20kW solar parks in Greece