ATHENS – Greece’s accelerating push for more sustainable sources of energy is reaching the rooftops with a program to subsidize solar panel and photovoltaics but only if they have a battery backup, the goal to add at least 250,000 units.

The government has moved toward trying to increase the use of solar and wind and greener sources to wean off reliance on Russian energy that was exempted from European Union sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

But at the same time it has had to go back to using coal-fired plants to generate electricity, reversing a plan to stop using that source that now will continue for several more years at least now.

Greece has set aside 700 million euros ($750 million) for the solar panel with batteries scheme which is designed to reduce the growing load on the power distribution network across the country.

The New Democracy government in 2022 put up some 9 billion euros ($9.64 billion) in subsidies up to 90 percent of the cost of household electricity bills that soared in the wake of the Russian invasion that affected markets in Europe.