Greece to submit new incentives plan for clean energy
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's new socialist government said on Sunday it will unveil a new law next month to boost renewable energy production and unblock stalled projects with a capacity of more than 7,000 megawatts.
The plan includes a new set of incentives and revised licensing procedures to cut red tape and tap the Mediterranean country's solar and wind power resources, Environment and Energy Minister Tina Birbili said in her maiden speech to parliament.
"The draft law has already been worked out and it will be submitted for public consultation in November," said Birbili, an environmental expert.
Greece's new Prime Minister George Papandreou, who won elections on October 4, seeks a "green growth" model to turn the country into a "Denmark of the South," producing a fifth of its total energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Greece, which has no significant oil and natural gas deposits, currently relies on lignite, a polluting form of coal, to cover the bulk of its energy needs.
Under socialist rule, Greece will continue to oppose nuclear power and will keep supporting Moscow-backed pipeline projects to carry Russian oil and natural gas to western Europe.
Greece would seek environmental assurances for a planned 1.3 billion euro ($1.94 billion) oil pipeline bypassing Turkey's Bosporus Strait, but will not upset the deal, Birbili said.
The new government will also continue to support Russia's South Stream natural gas pipeline project, Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas told parliament late Saturday.
