The energy ministry intends to address a series of pending energy-sector issues this week by submitting to Parliament a draft bill carrying related legislative revisions.

Pending issues which the ministry is pushing to have resolved before the country’s next national election, to take place in spring, some time between April and May, include exempting power purchase agreements (PPAs) from a mechanism recovering windfall earnings of electricity producers. This would enable power utility PPC and energy-intensive industries to establish PPAs for lower-cost renewable energy supply to industry.

The details of this exemption were agreed to last week at a meeting involving officials representing the energy ministry, RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, the industrial sector and PPC.

Another top-priority matter on the energy ministry’s agenda is a plan to extend, beyond 2022, the ability of small-scale RES facilities to secure tariffs through administrative procedures instead of competitive procedures.

This revision is expected to enable solar energy facilities possessing capacities of up to 500 KW – and which have submitted connection term applications to distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO prior to the beginning of 2023 – to continue securing tariffs through administrative procedures.

The upcoming revisions could also include new terms permitting solar and wind energy units that have already secured fixed tariffs to participate in wholesale electricity markets on a temporary basis. This revision is imminent, the energy ministry’s secretary-general, Alexandra Sdoukou, told a recent event staged by SPEF, the Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Energy Producers.