Renewable policies and challenges by 2020 in Greece: A questionnaire survey

Abstract

In a notable change from the position in the past, the Greek government is committed to greening the economy and has assumed determined policies and actions to boost the utilization of renewable energy. The aim of the paper is, firstly, to present the latest developments of the renewable energy policy in Greece, the current achievements and impediments in the implementation of planned reforms in the accomplishment of its 2020 targets, and the specific policy measures introduced; second, to discuss the pace of respective developments in other EU-28 member countries; and, third, through a questionnaire survey and stratified interviews with market participants, to verify the achievements of the government towards reversing previous bureaucratic and prone to corruption procedures. Respectively, research survey results from our survey and interviews conducted in the second semester of 2014 are presented. The majority of respondents expect that the targets set in the National Renewable Energy Action Plan will be reached by 2020. The paper and the questionnaire survey have been conducted under the auspices of the European research program THALES, which intends to measure various aspects of the shadow economy in Greece, also including the areas of renewable energy trade and finance.