The Hellenic Energy Regulation Institute, or HERI (www.energy-regulation.eu) and Energypress have joined forces for a significant initiative aiming at enriching and deepening domestic public discussion on current matters concerning and influencing all aspects of the Greek energy market.

To be staged as a series of regular thematic events, the initiative, titled “Energy Dialogues”, will serve as a platform for public dialogue, as well as scientific, academic and technocratic exchange on prevailing Greek energy-sector issues.

As part of the event’s proceedings, energy sector specialists will offer detailed positions on pre-determined questions as a means of shedding light on fundamental issues, including ones of scientific and academic interest.

The speeches to be offered by participating academics and energy-sector officials will be documented and published for the creation of an archive of thought-provoking material. In order to provide access of information to sector professionals, citizens, researchers, as well as the ever-increasing number of young scientists, the archive will be also made available through a special section to be launched on the energypress news portal.

The event, based on similar initiatives staged by reputable foreign sector-related research institutes such as the Florence School of Regulation, and Germany’s Institute for Energy and Regulation, will aim to contribute to research and the accumulation of scientific data that will help solve energy regulation matters, while also providing guidance, based on international models, towards more creative and richer Greek public discussion, which, far too often, remains shallow and unproductive.

“Energy Dialogues” will be curated and coordinated by the President of the Hellenic Energy Regulation Institute, Dr Antonis Metaxas, Lecturer at the University of Athens and Visiting Professor of Energy Law at the International Hellenic University.

The event will be held in close association with Greece’s academic community, which has already begun offering specialized interdisciplinary post-graduate programs with a focus on energy regulation.

The inaugural “Energy Dialogues” event, scheduled to take place on October 31, 2014, at Aegli, Zappeio Gardens, Athens, as part of a multi-conference titled “Capital & Vision”, will focus on the local electricity market’s restructuring with emphasis on three fields – the reshaping of Greece’s wholesale market and its compatibility with the European Target Model; NOME-type auctions; and reorganization of the capacity assurance mechanism.