Greece signed a deal with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on Thursday to set up a fund that will help turn its islands green by reducing dependence on fossil fuel.
Most of Greece’s islands in the Aegean and the Ionian Sea depend on costly oil-fired stations to generate electricity. These occasionally break down when demand peaks with the arrival of thousands of tourists in the summer.
Greece has made strides in expanding cheap renewable energy to nearly half of its power generation. However, Mitsotakis said Greece still relied heavily on expensive oil and gas imports.
“The fund we’re presenting today is a financial tool which will facilitate our islands to make green transition a reality,” Mitsotakis said at the event on Naxos in the presence of senior European Union and EIB officials.
Greece’s islands to be connected with mainland electricity
The Island Decarbonization Fund aims to allow Greece to mobilize 5.6 billion euros to speed up the construction of power links, wind, and solar stations with batteries, and through the financing of water reservoirs, provide for hydroelectric power. Charging stations will be made available for docking ships on the islands.
“The resources that are available are very important and will help us in the first phase, to be able to connect the largest number of our islands with the electricity network of mainland Greece through investments, so that our islanders can enjoy energy stability and security, [as well as] good electricity prices [so as to] get rid of the polluting power plants that have supplied the islands with electricity until now,” said Mitsotakis.
“Renewable energy sources will allow our country to gain energy independence and will contribute significantly to the reduction of energy costs. We are the protagonists today in Europe in the production of electricity from renewable energy sources,” he added.
Green transition of Greece’s islands
“Building a small project together with a storage system we want can ultimately lead to cheaper energy prices for consumers … households, [and] businesses. We want to use this tool to be able to give entrepreneurs the ability to use and to install small photovoltaic systems to be able to cover their needs.
“We want to use this fund so that, in the future, the desalination units that will be necessary for the islands to ensure sufficient access to fresh water can also be powered by renewable energy sources, so that we can have cheap access overall to good quality clean water,” Mitsotakis stressed.
“So the green transition, especially of the islands, can and should be turned into a great comparative advantage, not a chore, not an obligation that we have to implement simply because we have to be compatible with some European rules,” the Greek PM said.
Mitsotakis also congratulated the island of Tilos, which has become a symbol of sustainability for the whole of Europe, winning first prize in the “Supporting Sustainable Transition” category at the 2024 European Entrepreneurship Promotion Awards (EEPA) earlier this week.
Related: Greek Islands and Renewable Energy: A Green Future
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