Greece has unveiled a new €44 billion national energy strategy to step up development of cleaner and renewable energy sources, which comes as the country further strengthens its position as a regional energy hub.

Building on its previous strategy from earlier this year, the Greek government plans to raise the share of renewable energy to 35% of its total energy mix, up from 31% previously, mainly through increased use of solar and wind power. The new plan also envisions a greater role for natural gas and energy conservation measures to help phase out dirtier fuels like oil and lignite in order to reduce the country’s emissions of greenhouse gases.

Over the last ten years, Greece has been steadily liberalizing its energy sector and has established itself as a regional energy hub at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. Those moves have brought a slew of new investments: from wind farms to pipelines to power transmission projects. In the past few weeks alone, Greece welcomed the inauguration of a new €300 million wind park on Evia, and the completion of the Greek portion of the €4.5 billion cross-border Trans Adriatic Pipeline.

Meanwhile, the government has moved to restructure state-controlled electricity giant Public Power Corporation, launched the privatization of the state gas distribution network, and proceeded with a €1 billion project to connect the island of Crete to the mainland’s power grid.

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