The amount of energy available to a nation directly affects the standard of living, according to experts. So the billion and a half people in Africa, Asia and Latin America who still depend on wood and dung for fuel have a special problem which their national governments are often unable to solve. To make use of natural resources takes sophisticated equipment which many of these nations do not have, and the attractive new field of RES (Renewable Energy Sources — including solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass) involve expensive research and test programs.
Fortunately for users of primitive energy many developed countries and international agencies have taken a special interest in the development of RES throughout the world. For instance, Germany with a substantial solar research program, is actively pursuing technology transfer to developing countries in warmer climates. It has already contributed to the construction of three small solar generators, one in Egypt, one in India, and a third in Greece. Another country, France, which some consider to be the most advanced in this field, is also seeking to develop its technology through cooperative projects.
The European Economic Community last July allotted $65 million to a four-year solar program. The Community would like to function as a mediator between technology owners and the developing nations. Two of its projects at the present include developing a cheap solar cooker in Egypt, and a silicon solar cell in India to power educational television sets, irrigation plants, and provide village electricity in the future. The EEC is also constructing its own solar power generating station in Sicily.
The member countries of the International Energy Agency are cooperating to build two small solar power stations in Spain. And the United Nations is expected to budget $100 billion through its UN Center for Natural Resources and UN Environmental Program to establish small-scale solar and wind power generators which would bring electricity to a million isolated villages in the solar belt.
There are few, if any, dung and wood users in Greece, but the problems the country faces in regard to energy are not untypical, Greece expects to spend $1.8 billion on imported fuel in 1979, representing 70% of its energy consumption. The rising oil cost has forced the Government to emphasize its own resources in the future. New electric power plants using lignite and hydro power.are planned. A one billion dollar nuclear power plant is under consideration, to begin operation in 1985. It may use Greece’s own uranium should that turn out to be of high enough quality to make it worthwhile. A $245 million off-shore oil drilling project will supply 25,000 barrels of oil daily by 1981. But these projects require more financing than Greece has available. The latter two are foreign-funded. And the story does not end there. As a country which has not yet reached its development potential, Greece will need 6.6% more energy each year. The 4,500 MW of electricity used today is expected to be 11,500 MW by 1988.
Sun and wind are two other natural resources Greece would like to make use of. A goal for 1985 is to have 2% of the nation’s total energy consumption supplied by solar heaters, which are now being produced by some sixteen major commercial firms. In 1978, seven thousand of these heaters were sold, and the Government has recently introduced tax incentives to help in the installation costs which run at about $400 per unit. Even here, the need for foreign assistance is obvious. At least three of the major firms are subsidiaries of other international companies, such as British Petroleum, Stiebel Eltron of Germany, and Theilen of Cyprus. (Cyprus has already made extensive use of solar water heaters.)
Because of the many remote and small communities, especially on the islands, Greece is an ideal and necessary testing ground for solar and other RES equipment. Island generators are old and inefficient, and transportation of fuel makes electricity up to seven times as expensive as on the mainland. But the $3 million budget for solar research and development is comparatively small. Most of the RES projects in Greece are planned in cooperation with other governments or companies. Some of the projects are simply waiting to be funded, such as a six-year $3.5 million project by a University of Patras group to supply an entire community with a combination of solar, wind and other RES energy.
In 1976 the Greek National Energy Council and the US Department of Energy collaborated on the planning and construction of a solar village near Frangokastello in Crete, at an estimated $70 million. Now ready for the second phase — the actual construction — the project has expanded to include Italian and German companies.
Germany has been helping in the development of solar energy use in agriculture. Agricultural produce is a major export, but the production techniques are often primitive, and some rural areas still lack electricity. Solar greenhouses, units to dry fruits and vegetables, and a plastic sheet which raises the soil temperature high enough to kill bugs but without leaving the chemical residue of ordinary pesticides, are three of the current projects undertaken by the Agricultural School of Athens and other foundations.
An investigation which is likely to be taken up seriously has studied the use of sugar beet to make unhydrous alcohol. It can then be mixed with petrol at a 9 to 91 ratio and used for vehicle fuel. This could fill 3.4% of national petrol demands. Existing sugar beet factories could yield 50,000 tons of this alcohol per year, but to build the fermentation and distillation units would be costly.
The Public Power Corporation of Greece sees solar, wind and other RES sources as the solution to supplying remote communities, and has already established six wind-measuring stations and eight solar measurement stations throughout the country. It is planning a ten MW electric generator on the island of Milos, where a rich geothermal site, estimated to be large enough to produce sixty tons of electricity an hour, can provide more than enough energy to meet the island’s needs.
Being closer to western Europe in its standard of living than many of the third world countries, Greece is better able to meet its energy needs and to finance the necessary programs of research. Miltiadis Evert, the Minister of Industry and Energy, said recently that although the economic crisis will pass, the energy crisis is not so easily dealt with. For some countries, it is one and the same.
