by Shane Henson — April 8, 2013—Facilities managers in Greece may soon find solar power as an option for their facilities’ power source following the announcement of global renewable energy asset developer Sky Solar that it recently completed the successful grid-connection of a 70-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) power plant in the country.
Amy Zhang, CEO of Sky Solar, extended her congratulations to the Greek project team. With many years of experience in construction, operation and maintenance already under their belt from previous large projects, the Greek project team of Sky Solar made timely adjustments in technology, manpower allocation and project management to break through many challenges and ensure the successful grid-connection of the overall project, she says. These projects involved several regions as well as many functions, including development, approval process, design, investment and financing, construction and also grid-connection.
Sky Solar’s 70MW PV power plant is composed of 40MW and 30MW project packages, and the average sun irradiance of the project areas is more than 1,500 hours per year. The 40MW project was grid-connected on January 28, 2013, while the 30MW project was grid-connected on March 12, 2013, the company says. These two projects are entitled to a 20-year Greek PV FiT subsidy, and the electricity price is locked between 0.29 Euro/kWh – 0.44 Euro/kWh.
Greece has excellent solar resources with an average amount of solar irradiation 40 percent higher than that of Germany, currently the largest market for solar PV systems according to Pike Research. As a part of the EU electricity grid, Greece not only transmits and sells the electricity to the European countries short of electricity, but also attracts EU countries and enterprises to invest in photovoltaic power generation in order to accomplish its goals of renewable energy sources. Having analyzed and studied the market, Sky Solar began to invest in the Greek PV renewable power business in 2007 and has since been very successful with this investment, the company says.
