Green energy implementation gets a boost in Greece

In the face of the pandemic crisis, the country is pushing forward to meet its 2020 emissions targets.

Despite the fact that green energy implementation and investments are expected to slip this year, Greece is pushing forward to meet its ambitious goals for 2020.

The world has placed its focus on pandemic and economic management across the West.

That said, at the same time, Greece has continued its green energy implementation and has even managed to cross a defining climate milestone in May. That month represented the first time the country had not used any electricity from lignite coal burning since the 1950s.

During that month, 80 percent of the country’s electricity was generated through renewables and natural gas-fired sources. The balance between those two types of plants was about equal. The remainder of the country’s electricity demands were met through imported power.

Greece has opened up new green energy implementation projects, slashing through red tape.

During the same week that Greece’s conservative New Democracy government announced that it was hacking its way through renewable energy project red tape. This greatly decreased the amount of time required for projects to receive necessary approvals. The average had been more than six years, but after the government’s latest moves, it will now be shorter than six months.

Though some had initially asked whether that was merely a political move or whether it would have practical results, some projects are already enjoying the benefits, said government officials. They indicated that Greece may now be able to achieve its ambitious goal of completely dumping its coal use by 2028. If it were to achieve that goal, it would be a full 10 years ahead of Germany.

The European Union was seeing a substantial boost in momentum in its transition toward clean electricity sources before the onset of the pandemic crisis. Now, leaders of the member countries are scrambling to overcome their differences in order to implement an economic recovery plan for the entire bloc. As they do so, there have been a rising number of calls to push forward with climate action and to use the Green Deal as the core of the economic recovery structure.