Over 1,500 RES license applications representing a total capacity of more than 15 GW have so far been lodged by investors with RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, for its December cycle of RES licenses, the first to be held under a new framework, whose deadline expires later today.

These figures, expected to rise further by closing time, suggest that the RES sector has remained unperturbed by a recent 6 percent surcharge imposed by the energy ministry on RES producers, including for existing contracts, to ensure the sustainability of the RES special account.

Also, investment plan reconsiderations by strategic investors do not appear to have affected the sector’s overall investment mood.

Though the Greek RES market appears to have remained a strong attraction for investors despite some sense of investment insecurity generated by the measures, some pundits have remained cautious.

They contend that the large incoming wave of RES license applications is not a safe measure of the country’s level of RES investment attractiveness as these applications are just a preliminary step, without obligations, of a longer process. Actual investment decisions are made further down the line, pundits have stressed.

Many market officials have attributed the large number of applications to RAE’s extended freeze of new application procedures over the past year or so.

Approximately 80 percent of this cycle’s applications submitted to RAE represent solar power projects, while wind energy projects make up the majority of the remaining 20 percent.