According to recent data released by the Greek Photovoltaic Enterprises Association, the country added 1.59 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity last year, setting an annual record high. As of now, Greece's installed photovoltaic capacity has reached 7.1 GW, meeting 18.4% of the country's electricity demand, becoming one of the highest proportion of photovoltaic power generation in Europe.

Greece has unique resources in solar and wind power generation. In May 2022, the Greek government adopted its first National Climate Law, which clearly sets the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and 80% by 2040, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In November last year, the Greek government launched a new version of the National Energy and Climate Plan, proposing that by 2030, the installed capacity of renewable energy generation will reach 23.5 gigawatts, the proportion of renewable energy in energy supply will reach 44%, and the proportion of renewable energy generation in total power generation will reach 80%.

In recent years, the Greek government has actively promoted the development of the wind power industry to speed up the energy transition. According to the latest data released by the Greek Wind Energy Association, 153 new wind turbines will be connected to the grid in 2023, and the total installed capacity of wind power in Greece will exceed 5 GW for the first time. In October last year, the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy jointly released the Offshore wind plan, which plans to build floating wind turbines in more than 2,700 square kilometers of the Aegean Sea, with an installed capacity of 4.9 gigawatts by 2032. According to the Greek Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research, the deployment of offshore wind will boost the country's economy by 1.9 billion euros per year between 2024 and 2050, creating an average of about 44,000 jobs per year.

The Greek government attaches great importance to the promotion and popularization of renewable energy-related facilities to the public. Last year, the Greek government launched a new energy subsidy program of 200 million euros to help farmers and urban residents install rooftop solar collection and storage systems. According to the latest report of the Council of European Energy Regulators, the number of citizen energy communities in Greece reached 884, ranking first among EU countries. Alexandra Stucku, deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, said that over the past five years, 1,664 energy community projects have been commissioned in Greece, with a total installed capacity of more than 1 GW, and another 511 projects are under construction.

With the support of these policies, from 2014 to 2023, Greece's renewable energy generation increased by 147%. In 2023, renewable energy will already account for 57% of total electricity generation in Greece, an increase of nearly 7 percentage points over the previous year. Nikos Manzaris, energy policy analyst at the Greek Green Think Tank, pointed out that the increasingly solid position of renewable energy in the Greek energy market is driving the transformation of the country's energy sector towards sustainable development.

In recent years, cooperation between China and Greece in the field of renewable energy has become increasingly close. For example, the Thrace wind power project, invested by China National Energy Group, is the first Chinese wind power project in Greece, with a total installed capacity of 782 million kilowatts and an annual generating capacity of about 160 million kilowatt-hours, which can meet the annual electricity consumption of 30,000 local households. Local media commented that the cooperation between Greece and China in the field of renewable energy has provided an important boost for Greece to accelerate its energy transition and reduce carbon emissions. Editor/Xu Shengpeng