As we state, by importing renewable energy production equipment,PV panels for example, a significant part of the energy, expected to be produced, during the lifetime of the equipment, is being payed upfront.

To be more specific a 1 MWP  powerplant will cost aprox. 4.000.000 €.

In Greece it will produce aprox. 1.400 MWh per year.

With a Feed in Tarrif of 450 €/MWh it will generate a turnover of 630.000 €.

With a 10 year financial depreciation it will produce within these 10 years approx. 14.000 MWh  or 8.200 oil barrels for thermal equivalence or 20.500 barrels assuming 40% conversion efficiency.

With 50€ per barrel, current price, 20.500 barrels cost 1.025.000€ and 8.200€ cost 410.000€.

That means we pay in advance 4.000.000 € for an electric energy equivalent of 1.025.000 € or a thermal energy equivalent of 410.000 €.

I do not get into financial capital cost calculations which make things even worse.

So in order to meet renewable energy goals we import energy in production equipment form and pay it ,in advance , on average 10 years earlier, 4 times higher.

And as the FIT is payed by the electricity consumers as a renewable energy “tax” on their electricity bills, we put a tap into the liquidity of the economy to payback capital and interests for a huge in advance capital payment.

And what have we achieved to drain liquidity from the Greek market to the equipment manufacturers homeland market.

And what has Greece to gain from this? Perhaps a 10% for installation and maintenance services or even less.

The Solution.

Develop a domestic Renewable energy equipment market.

If Greece will develop its own equipment market the aforementioned amounts will circulate in the local economy boosting liquidity and growth, not mentioning edge technology know how and competency.

Let’s have a quick look on 3 examples of different PV technologies.

I examine 3 recent investments by major PV companies, 2 of them are Thin film and one is Crystaline Si.

In this case what is actually imported is the manufacturing equipment which is on average 25% of the annual turnover.

The rest of the production cost is mainly materials (which in case of Si is abundant in Greece), energy and labor.

Returning to our previous example for a 1MWP photovoltaic park, the major part of the 4.000.000 € investment circulates in the local economy.

As Greece is expected, amid global crisis,  to invest some billions in the PV sector, it is imperative to develop a domestic production market which will keep those billions “in-house”.

http://earth2tech.com/2008/09/26/oregon-welcomes-yet-another-solar-maker-sanyo/

http://solyndra.com/News/Press-Release-090409

http://www.renewable-energy-sources.com/2009/07/27/first-solar-to-build-largest-solar-manufacturing-plant-in-france-within-joint-venture-with-edf-energies-nouvelles/