An accumulating number of major foreign funds with portfolios worth billions are preparing to enter Greece’s renewable energy market with investments expected to reach more than two billion euros over the next five years, deputy energy minister Gerassimos Thomas has told local media.

US funds Blackstone and Quantum, the UK’s Cubico, Denmark’s CIP and the UAE’s Masdar each plan to invest between 250 and 500 million euros in Greece’s RES market over the next five years, according to the deputy minister.

If these investment plans are actualized along with others, including a major-scale solar park project planned by power utility PPC for northern Greece’s west Macedonia region, then the government’s green energy investment target of between 8 and 9 billion euros by 2030 could be achieved well ahead of schedule.

The latest developments highlight how much of an attraction Greece’s renewable energy sector has become for both domestic and foreign investors. The completion of work being conducted by local authorities to simplify the country’s RES licensing procedures should provide further impetus.