For a small country like Greece, these numbers are huge. So why aren't some market participants enthusiastic?

I think there are two main reasons for this: First, there are bottlenecks in the grid connection. Greece's TSO IPTO plans to provide grid-connected options for 28-30GW of renewable energy by 2030, of which 20GW will be used for PV.

However, there are more than 70GW of PV applications in competition. Not everyone has access to the ideal grid-connection scheme, which has created unease in the market. That's true, but are so many projects really needed? On the other hand, 2023 is photovoltaic power generation there are some power limits.

This year, Greece's electricity restrictions are expected to quadruple. To short-sighted investors, that sounds like the end of the world. The annual curtailment level will be around 4 to 5 percent. On a sunny day, photovoltaics contribute more than 60-70% of the energy at noon.

Considering that Greece does not yet have perfect energy storage, it is reasonable that we have these levels of power rationing. However, power rationing is expected to ease as the first large ground-based power stations are set to become operational in 2026.

However, the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) expects only 3.1GW of BESS by 2030, which is not enough to keep the rationing at a reasonable level, and energy storage is needed to solve the rationing problem.

The NECP's final draft, which is currently being revised, also foresees 13.4 GW of PV installed capacity by 2030, by which time we expect the actual market to exceed 16 GW.

For nearly 15 years, the Greek market has been dominated by small and medium-sized terrestrial PV systems, supported by feed-in tariff subsidies and feed-in tariff premiums. Today, many large surface power plant projects are mature, and they are expected to dominate in terms of total installed capacity.

In addition, the self-use market is growing. This related market is doubling every year and we expect continued activity in the coming years. Just a short time ago (April 2024), the Greek government abolished the original net metering system for producers and consumers and instead established a net billing system, which caused a lot of concern among small installers.

In 2023, Greece will rank first in Europe in terms of the proportion of domestic electricity generated by PV, which is more than double the European average (8.6%) and more than three times the global average (5.4%).

Thanks to photovoltaic power generation, 5.7 million tons of CO2 emissions were reduced in 2023, which is the CO2 emissions of 4.6 million diesel vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines, each of which travels an average of 10,000 kilometers per year. The environmental benefits are equivalent to planting 147.6 million conifers or 90.1 million deciduous trees and letting them grow for ten years.

In 2023 alone, Greece invested €1.12 billion ($1.19 billion) in new PV projects, and this growth was accompanied by 15,840 full-time jobs.jinko solar panels