Greece has laid out a new plan to get itself out of a recession and to spread renewable energy through the country and the EU.  The new plan called Project Helios would see the country expanding its solar power capacity to 10 GW by 2050 through financing by international investors.

Greece is hoping to capitalize on one of it's great resources:  the country gets 300 sunny days a year.  Greece would lease out land to investors to build solar installations as a way to generate income and add jobs. To make the deal more attractive to investors, the country is promising to greatly ease licensing obstacles and cut out most of the red tape involved in building these projects.

The solar power systems would be connected to the mainland, islands and to the rest of continent, which would help other EU countries meet the renewable energy mandate that requires member countries to get 20 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2020.  The set up would be similar to the huge DESERTEC project in North Africa, but on a smaller scale within the EU.

The project would see 2.2 GW of capacity installed by 2020, 10 GW by 2050 and ultimately the country would become an exporter of renewable energy.

via Greentech Media