"We're sick of wishlists," the head of Greenpeace's Greek section Nikos Charalambidis told AFP.

He was referring to Simitis' pledge made in mid-September that 20 percent of domestically generated electricity would be produced by green sources by

According to official figures, less than 2 percent of Greek energy output are produced by clean sources today.

In an open letter to Simitis, Greepeace said the Greek government was dragging its feet in licensing new generators powered by wind, water, solar energy or biomass. It also said Athens offered no incentives for their introduction.

"How can you achieve the 20-percent target within four years when there are no distribution networks available for them at all," the open letter said, urging Simitis to press state-owned electricity monopolist Public Power Corporation (PPC) to roll out such a grid.

PPC, a hugely profitable enterprise, produces two-thirds of its energy output by burning cheap lignite. With 66 million tonnes of the black coal annually extracted at the company's two mines at Ptolemaida in western Macedonia and Megalopolis in Peloponnese, DEI is the EU's second-largest lignite producer.

TERRA.WIRE