Greece is working to address the water crisis on its islands through the launch of 200 million euro funding mechanism this autumn that will support the creation of systems that address both the water crisis and the generation of renewable energy, says AMNA.
The municipalities of islands will be invited to submit their proposals, which should target providing sustainable solutions for water and renewable energy needs on islands, and be based on the logic of hybrid power generation units that include desalination plants as well as wind, photovoltaics and/or pumped storage systems.
The funding will come from the country’s decarbonization fund, explains AMNA, and most of the budget will be allocated for “green” power generation units.
Greece has already approved the development of a large pumped storage project on the mainland in Amfilochia, which will include 680MW production and 730 MW pumping and storage.
The Amfilochia project recieved 250 million euros from Greece’s recovery fund and has a total budget of 650 million euros.
Meanwhile, it was also just announced that a dam and new water infrastructure will be built on Lesvos island, with a price tag of 98 million euros, and local authorities told press that the announcement could not have come sooner.
The island of Crete has been in the news since last year due to water scarcity, which has hit the agricultural sector particularly hard and is forcing a serious look by local, regional and central government authorities on how it can reasonably and sustainbly be solved.
Greece as country has made global headlines recently on account of the impact of climate change and overtourism on the country’s water infrastructure, which has left many islands and regions precariously close to a severe water crisis.
