In April 2022, the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis inaugurated an enormous two-sided 204-megawatt solar park—the biggest system in all of Europe.
The installation of this bifacial solar farm is part of Greece’s aim to double its installed capacity from renewables to approximately 19 gigawatts by 2030. Bifacial solar panels are particularly suited to this objective, as they can collect sunlight and create energy with both their top and their bottom sides. This goal could become even more ambitious as the European Commission’s motivation to reduce its reliance on Russian gas and accelerate the transition to green energy has been reinvigorated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The solar park, which is located in the northern Greek town of Kozani, was built by Greece’s biggest oil refiner—one of the largest oil companies in the Balkans—Hellenic Petroleum. The company claims to be undergoing a transformation into a clean energy producer and has even hinted at adding battery storage to the solar park too.
How much energy will the solar park generate?
In the next few weeks, the park will be effectively connected to the country’s power grid and will fuel 75,000 households.
“This project reflects our national goals for cheap and clean energy from the sun, from the wind, from the water,” Prime Minister Mitsotakis declared at the park’s inauguration.
Greece already proved its commitment to a greener world by surpassing its 2020 renewables goal by reaching 21.7 percent renewable energy consumption. That’s far from enough in their eyes. The country refuses to stop there and aims to increase this figure to 35 percent by 2030.
