Chinese SOEs Contract MINOS 50MW Solar Power Project in Greece

China Energy Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (Energy China Group), the leader of the EPC consortium; Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the financier; the British company Nur Energie, the developer; and PRENECON, the local cooperator in Greece signed a multilateral agreement on the MINOS 50MW solar power project on Nov 11.

A major result of the "17+1 cooperation" — a mechanism between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), the project will be a driving force in high-quality development of the Belt and Road.

Consortium members China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co., Ltd. and ZHEJIANG SUPCON SOLAR TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD also signed an EPC contract to be responsible for the project's construction on Nov 10.

Located on the island of Crete, the tower-type molten salt solar photothermal power plant has a designed installed capacity of 50 MW and can store energy for five hours of power generation, enough for 10 percent of the island's electricity demand.

It will greatly improve the ratio of clean energy consumption and protect environmental and tourism resources on the island.

In addition, the project will contribute to local employment and development of the photothermal power industrial chain during construction.

Jointly developed, built and operated by enterprises of China, Greece and the UK, the project has a total investment of about 290 million euros. It was the first cooperation between Chinese and western financing institutes and enterprises in a third market and is a typical example of international multilateral friendly cooperation.

The project is listed in several inter-governmental framework cooperation agreements including a China-Greece three-year cooperation plan and a China-UK agreement on jointly developing third-party markets.

Greece is an intersection of the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road. It was also the first European country to sign an MOU with China under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the MINOS 50MW photothermal power project as one of the "key green projects" and a strategic investment during his speech at the opening ceremony of Thessaloniki International Fair this September.

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)