Solar Innovation: Germany Thinking of Harnessing Greece's Sunshine

As many of us are getting ready for winter, Germany is thinking about sunshine. It is considering a groundbreaking, social innovation 'green' project to harness the sun rays from Greece. If this project goes ahead, it will at the same time be a financial lifeline that debt stricken Greece needs, as it has been affected by the current global economic crisis.

The prospect of a German business reviving Greece's economy might be a little hard to imagine; however, the Greek debt crisis has thrown up opportunities. While Greece's widespread corruption, infamous bureaucracy and weak justice system have all played a major part in keeping foreign firms out, its government is hoping the country's abundant sunlight can attract German renewable energy companies. Greece could see foreign lenders help kick start Greece's recession-hit economy by developing a social innovation project called "Project Helios," named aptly after the sun god of Greek mythology. It is a solar power project of approximately 20,000 hectares, which will be used for exporting renewable energy to Germany.

In the wake of Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster earlier this year, the decision by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to close all 17 German nuclear reactors by 2022 has meant that Germany will quickly need alternative sources of energy and social innovation ideas. Its own solar power industry has been struggling recently. Though the country's wind energy is now almost profitable, its temperate climate means that its solar power industry is still very dependent on government money.

Therefore, Greece has every chance of becoming the showcase of solar development in Europe's 'sun belt' and that could in itself become the main driver of Greece's green economic growth. Costas Karayiannis, CEO of Greece's only solar energy investment fund, Axeon Navitas says, "Germany is the global leader in solar energy and it has a lot less sun than Greece. It makes a lot of sense for it to invest in this type of project here." However, for this project it is estimated that it will need $28 billion of foreign investment. It will be vital and persuading businessmen to invest in Greek sunshine, and a social innovation proposal like this one could be a tough sell.

Greece's renewable energy infrastructure needs a lot of social innovation development and it would have to be a 10-year plan. This sunny country is not doing enough to harness its sunny hours because it is still able to get cheap fossil fuels. However, if it does happen Greece's solar plant will have a capacity of 200 megawatts, perhaps making its electricity output greater than any other photovoltaic park operation in the world.

Photo Credit: archer10 (Dennis)