Germany lends hand to Greece on renewable energy

The German government is to help Greece develop its renewable energy sector under an agreement signed Thursday by the two countries and an EU taskforce for the debt-laden country. The accord, which entails German cash and advice, aims "to improve the general conditions for the development of renewable energies in Greece", a German environment ministry statement said. "In Greece the production costs of solar power per kilowatt-hour are currently still clearly higher than here, despite considerably stronger sunlight," it added. Berlin will provide 250,000 euros ($319,000) of a one-million-euro budget earmarked for the initial phase of the project, with the European Commission stumping up the rest. In 2010 the Commission set up a taskforce, to which EU countries contribute with expertise in different areas, to help Greece carry out reforms following its first request for financial aid from its European partners. In Germany renewable energy is subsidised and currently makes up 20 percent of the country's electricity production.