Greece’s energy sector, the utilization of domestic oil deposits, infrastructure projects being developed to expand the country’s electricity and natural gas networks, the power interconnection of the Greek islands, projects to offer energy security and interconnection with the rest of Europe, installation of high-tech “smart” networks and meters, all stand as main priorities at the Ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change (YPEKA), and are presented in detail in a special “Energy” edition published by KEPE, the Center for Planning and Economic Research, which operates under the ministry’s supervision.
The development of all these domains stands to offer major employment opportunities as well as significant opportunities for a new model of economic growth that promises to reinvigorate the national economy, Greece’s Environment, Energy & Climate Change Minister, Yannis Maniatis, points out in the edition’s introductory note. The minister underlines that these opportunities “must not be lost”.
The edition, published in the Greek language, includes articles by sector authorities such as Athanasios Dagoumas, a special advisor to the Energy & Climate Change Minister; Miltiadis Aslanoglou, a member of RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy; Giorgos Stamtsis, the general manager at HAIPP, the Hellenic Association of Independent Power Producers; Savvas Seimanidis, the recently appointed president of EREF, the European Renewable Energies Federation, who previously was a representative at ESIAPE, the Greek Association for Electricity Producers and Renewable Energy Sources; Sotiris Kapellos, president of SEF, the Association of Photovoltaic Companies; Takis Grigoriou, an Energy and Climate Change official at Greenpeace Greece; and KEPE researcher Vassilis Lyhnaras, the KEPE energy edition’s supervisor.
“The energy sector can play an important role in the country’s development and help to attract new investment and capital from abroad, and create new jobs. At the same time, it stands as the fundamental determining factor for competitiveness and export orientation of producers in the Greek economy,” notes Lyhnaras in the edition’s foreword.