Recent statements by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on exports of Greek sun to his country were not occasional. According to weekly paper Kefalaio, this public statement was a continuation of formal and informal contacts so German companies to ensure a significant share of the rapidly growing green energy market in Greece, particularly solar and wind energy and electric cars.
The plan Schaeuble unveiled is simple: Greece would receive extensive green investments from German companies and then the country would be exporting green energy, while it is possible that German companies would establish production lines in Greece, increasing added value for the domestic economy.
German FinMin pointed out that investing in green market is not a suggestion, but a prerequisite for the participation of Germany in the new support package to Greece. On the top of German priorities there are three strategic investments exceeding €2.5b, focusing on Public Power Corp’s photovoltaic park in Kozani, according to sources.
The Greek company is seeking a strategic partner for the park and the building of a photovoltaic plant and research and development centre. The €600m project is claimed by Siemens, QCells (in a joint venture with Norwegian REC and French Schneider Electric), Wurth Solar (in a joint venture with Sorgenia and J&P Avax) and Centrotherm (in a joint venture with Chinese Dongfang and Greek DTS), while the development of a plant and the centre could increase the value of the project above €1b.
Contacts
The initial contact took place last March when former Environment Minister Tina Birbili met German Ambassador Dr Roland Wegener, who expressed the interest of German companies in the project. The contacts have continued and intensified lately, while sources note that Deputy Development Minister Haris Pampoukis is handle the matter.
German PV manufacturers are interested in new markets such as Greece, after the reducing of incentives that apply to their own market and resulted in the restrain of growth of the largest PV market in the world.
Wind Farms
German companies are also interested in tenders for sea wind farms, which the Environment Ministry plans to launch in 2012, with Siemens being among the two top players in the market.
The objective is to create three or four wind farms with a capacity of 300MW, representing sales of €560m for each turbine contract.
Electric Cars
Germany is about to invest more than €1b in research on electric cars in order to retain its position in the industry. Therefore, it has set an objective of more than a million electric cars in Germany by 2020. Recently, German MEP of Greek descent J. Chatzimarkakis brought representatives of the German company Mia Electric GmbH in Crete to submit an investment proposal to build an electric car plant and a photovoltaic plant in the island. The company is in talks with the Greek company Mechatron.
(source: capital)
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