Despite announcing, in early June, that older and still-unutilized applications for roof-mounted PV permits would be shelved and cancelled unless applicants reconfirmed their interest within a month, HEDNO, the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator, has yet to take action, according to energypress sources.

However, the operator, locally acronymed DEDDIE, is soon expected to begin canceling older applications once its regional agencies provide further market data, especially on Crete, where the bulk of applications were made.

The operator had issued the deadline to clear a backlog of applications that are severely delaying processing procedures for new applications prompted by the introduction of a net metering legal framework.

Net metering will enable electricity consumers who generate their own power from an eligible on-site facility and deliver it to local distribution facilities to offset the electric energy provided by the utility during an applicable billing period.

Older applications for household PV systems have sat idly and saturated capacity limits, depriving entrepreneurial-linked PV interest generated by the net metering plan on islands with tourism activity such as Crete and Skyros.

Highlighting the problem, HEDNO is still processing roof-mounted PV applications that were submitted in 2012 and 2013. Based on procedures, permit offers for these older applications must first be issued by the operator and a two-month period must elapse before the bids may be cancelled, if not utilized.

Roof-mounted PV interest by older applicants has subsided as a result of lower tariffs offered for the category, meaning that older applications essentially no longer express genuine interest.