Really? The Germans would dump $29 billion into this?
Greece is looking to the sun for a plan that will help it emerge from its deep economic troubles, and solar giant and EU powerhouse Germany may be the beneficiary.
According to a report Saturday in Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea, a $29 billion project (€20 billion) could create as many as 60,000 positions in jobs-starved Greece by harvesting its abundant sunshine and shipping it to Germany, which has committed itself to moving rapidly away from nuclear power following Japan’s earthquake and nuclear crisis.
According to the newspaper, Greece’s Environment Minister George Papaconstantinou and Germany’s Deputy Economy Minister Stefan Kapferer discussed the plan, named Project Helios, during talks in Athens last week.
The International Herald Tribune said the project aims to reach 10 GW of capacity, which would rival it with the 10.2 GW produced by Public Power Corporation, Greece’s main electricity company. The project, the site said, would require 200 square kilometers of public land.
Despite a national feed-in-tariff, solar installations have been slow to develop in Greece, as the nation continues to battle debt and uncertainty. However, in January, Greece announced plans to build a 200 MW photovoltaic solar park expected to cost $807 million over spent lignite mines in Kozani, a city in northern Greece located south of the border with the Republic of Macedonia.
The rest here.