The finance ministry has reached a decision to redirect a 202 million-euro amount of Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds that had been intended for the RES special account’s sub-account supporting new RES projects – defined as those electrified from January 1, 2021, onwards – to cover other needs as a result of a reversal of forecasts brought about by the energy crisis.

As previously reported by energypress, the finance ministry began thinking about not proceeding with its planned 202 million-euro injection of RRF funds into the RES special account late in 2022.

Since then, the finance ministry has committed this amount to other investments. The ministry’s original decision to inject RRF funds into the RES special account’s sub-account for new projects was based on 2019 data. However, the ensuing surge in wholesale electricity prices prompted by the energy crisis has prevented any chance of a RES special account deficit in the coming years.

Market players have called for a transfer of surplus amounts from the new RES sub-account to the RES special account remunerating older projects. Latest data indicates the RES special account will end 2023 with a deficit worth tens of millions of euros, whereas its new sub-account for new projects will end the year with a surplus of at least 100 million euros.

The country’s revised RRF plan will be linked to Greece 2.0 program revisions resulting in the addition of new actions for the allocation of an additional 769 million euros the country is entitled to from the REPowerEU program.

Though EU member states have until the end of August to submit their revised National Recovery and Resilience Plans, the European Commission is urging member states to submit their revised plans by the end of April.