Energy consumption from renewable energy sources in Greece grew at a faster rate compared with the EU average rate in 2012, according to Eurostat said yesterday.

In a report released on Monday (10.03), the EU’s statistics service said that energy consumption from renewable energy sources grew by 15.1 % in Greece, from 14 % in the EU-28. Greece also recorded the biggest percentage increase in the period 2004-2012, from 7.2 % to 15.1 %, followed by Sweden (38.7 % to 51 %), Denmark (14.5 % to 26%) and Austria (22.7 % to 32.1 %).

Sweden (51 %), Latvia (35.8 %), Finland (34.3 %) and Austria (32.1 %) recorded the highest energy consumption from renewable energy sources rates, while Malta (1.4 %), Luxembourg (3.1 %), the UK (4.2 %) and Holland (4.5 %) the lowest rates.

The EU has set to reach 20 % share of energy consumption from renewable energy sources by 2020. Greece has to raise its share to 18 % by 2020.

The Greek Environment Ministry announced the project Eastern Mediterranean Pipeline by launching a study to check the feasibility of building a pipeline that will transport natural gas from deposits in the Eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus and Israel) through Crete and mainland Greece to the rest of Europe. The project is realized in collaboration with Cyprus and has been identified as a common interest project by the European Commission.

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