Greece has devised a plan to increase installed solar capacity  to 2.2 gigawatts (GW) by 2020 and 10 GW by 2050.

Reuters reports that the country, which is in the middle of its worst recession in decades, hopes to attract up to EUR 20 billion in solar investment in the years ahead.

There’s no doubt that Greece has the solar resource necessary. Energy Minister George Papaconstantinou says with 300 days of sunshine a year, Greece averages 50% more solar radiation than Germany – the established leader in photovoltaics.

But with a little over 200 megawatts (MW), Greece has installed solar capacity that is 80 times smaller than Germany and ten times smaller than the Czech Republic.

“Project Helios” will attempt to cut through red tape to allow the leasing of public land to foreign investors.

In time, Greece hopes to export some of its solar-generated power to cloudier neighbors to the north, including Germany, which has been in talks with the Greek government.

The Energy Ministry says transmission infrastructure is already capable of sending 2.5 GW of solar power from Greece to central Europe.

Original Article on SustainableBusiness.com