| Author (Person) | Kielmas, Maria |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.8, No.9, 7.3.02, p14 |
| Publication Date | 07/03/2002 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 07/03/02 By ALEXANDER Perakis is a happy man. His company, Crete-based Olympic Sun, has been in the business of providing solar panels for water heaters since 1978 and the market hasn't stopped growing. New hotel construction for the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece will give his business a further boost. Greece has been the EU's leader in the use of solar energy, partly due to the climate but mostly because of the many difficulties of connecting its numerous islands to a centralised power distribution grid. But this is not cutting-edge science. 'Solar energy has been based on the same technology for the past 40 years,' Mr Perakis explains. Heat-collecting silicon panels have been used to power spacecraft since the 1950s, just as they heat water around the eastern Mediterranean. New heat-collector technology, such as evacuated heat pipes, is three times as expensive as the panels and needs to be replaced more frequently. Photovoltaic power generation, in which electricity generated is fed into a national distribution grid, is also three times more expensive than conventional energy and can only function if subsidised. The return on investment from a photovoltaic power generation project is a mere 10 to 13, according to calculations by ISES Italia, the Rome affiliate of the International Solar Energy Society. In Crete, where 25 of power generation comes from the wind, photovolatic generation is a non-starter. 'The challenge is to produce cheap panels and sell them everywhere,' says Perakis. This means most of the southern Mediterranean and West Africa. The expansion of multinational energy corporations into the solar energy sector has got the independent solar energy sector worried. The big companies' main business is oil, gas and conventional power generation. Photovoltaic industry research could be subsumed to these main interests. 'Why should they construct expensive power generators?' Perakis asks. Article is part of a survey on renewable energy. |
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| Subject Categories | Energy |
