Transition of Solar Energy in Greece

Transition of Solar Energy in Greece: A Social Cost Benefit Analysis

Machaira, E.

Storm, S.T.H. (mentor)

Technology, Policy and Management

Values Technology and Innovation

Sustainable Energy Technology (SET)

2016-11-28

In the last years, the country of Greece is striving to overcome the severe financial consequences of the European debt crisis, that hindered its economic growth and downgraded the quality of life of its citizens. The difficult economic state of Greece as well as the long-existing global problem of energy resources depletion constitute the two fundamental concerns, which triggered the conduction of this graduation report. The impending shortage of fossil fuels coupled with the ever increasing demand for energy consumption led to the rapid development of renewable energy sources (RES), which is evident nowadays. But although RES are the answer to environmental sustainability, their contribution to the overall energy utilization for various countries is still minor. In an effort to support the deployment of renewable technologies, many nations, including Greece, have enforced national and international agreements binding them on their renewable energy targets over the years. With a rich renewable energy potential, Greece has set its RES goals up to the year 2020, internationally via the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC and nationally via the National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP), which were both realized in 2009, just before the burst of the economic turmoil. In the years following the crisis and despite all economic adversities troubling Greece, the only RES that continued its fast development and even reached occasionally the committed targets of 2020 was the solar photovoltaic (PV) energy. Consequently, the thesis focuses on investigating the financial and socio-economic impact of a potential solar PV transition in Greece by addressing the following main research question: how could the fulfillment of the national RES target for solar PV energy by 2020 contribute to the improvement of the Greek people’s welfare during the period of the crisis. In this context, the report studies and evaluates the implementation of large-scale solar PV power plants in Greece with respect to the country’s national and European energy commitments by 2020, through the conduction of a Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA). The aforementioned analysis is executed in two distinctive parts, depending on the perspective of the people with standing for each part: the financial part considering only private investors’ costs and benefits, and the socio-economic part taking into account the whole society. Based on the positive outcome of both parts, the analysis concludes that undertaking the proposed venture would benefit not only private investors but also the Greek society as a whole, assisting at the same time in overcoming the economic recession. Concluding, it is worth highlighting the apparent scientific value of this graduation report. Despite the limited relevant literature available on the subject and the restrains of the SCBA methodology itself, the current thesis constitutes the first complete SCBA attempt to evaluate an actual national solar energy target according to the European Commission’s guidelines and under the unfavorable socio-economic conditions of an economic crisis. In the last part of the report, all barriers that occurred in the course of this work are discussed in detail and specific suggestions for the enhancement of future research along with relevant policy recommendations are given. Finally, reflections on the research performed, related to its strong points, its difficulties and its novelties are presented.

Solar Energy
Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA)
Greece
Greek Debt Crisis
European Directives
Photo-voltaic Technology

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Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2016 Machaira, E.