IPTO set to distribute 2 GW for offshore wind farm areas

Power grid operator IPTO plans, in a fortnight’s time, to distribute 2-GW in grid capacity to Greek sea areas selected to host the country’s first round of offshore wind farms, as part of the overall work being conducted by the Coordination Committee for the Connection and Development of Offshore Wind Farm Projects.

IPTO will present offshore wind farm areas to which the 2-GW capacity will be distributed at the committee’s next meeting, schedule to take place in two weeks.

EDEYEP, the Hellenic Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources Management Company, overseeing Greece’s offshore wind farm plan, presented sea areas marked out for offshore wind farm approximately one month ago.

A legislative revision securing a 2-GW capacity in the grid for the first round of offshore wind farms will be brought to Parliament for approval this coming Thursday, sources informed, confirming deputy energy minister Alexandra Sdoukou’s related announcement made just days ago at the official opening of Copenhagen Offshore Partners’ Athens office.

The 2-GW capacity in first-round offshore wind farms includes 600 MW marked out for pilot projects.

Last week, EDEYEP announced pilot-project permits for two companies, Aioliki Provata Trainoupoleos M.A.E, and Thrakiki Aioliki 1, SA, subsidiaries of Terna Energy and the Copelouzos group, respectively.

 

2-GW grid capacity reservation for offshore wind farms to be ratified

A legislative revision reserving 2 GW in power grid capacity for the country’s prospective offshore wind farms is expected to be ratified in Greek Parliament within the next few days.

This 2-GW grid capacity reservation for electricity to be produced by offshore wind farms has been included in the revised National Energy and Climate Plan, recently forwarded to the European Commission for approval.

Deputy energy minister Alexandra Sdoukou referred to the aforementioned developments during a speech yesterday at an opening ceremony staged by Copenhagen Offshore Partners for a new office in Athens to host its Greek subsidiary.

COP, regarded as one of the world’s leading companies in the category of floating offshore wind turbines, is partnering with fund management company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), with which Mytilineos has formed an alliance, mainly for the development of offshore wind energy projects in Greek waters.

At the event, Sdoukou highlighted the importance of the National Offshore Wind Farm Development Program, which was recently completed and presented by EDEYEP, the Hellenic Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources Management Company.

“We are now in a position to know the country’s potential and the first areas where wind farms will be installed,” Sdoukou noted.

Greece’s revised NECP foresees the development of offshore wind farms – both floating and fixed-foundation installations – with a total capacity of 2 GW by 2030 and 17 GW by 2050.

Inaugural offshore wind farm auctions in ’27, 6 areas likeliest

Greece’s first auctions for offshore wind farm areas are expected to take place in 2027 with six areas off Crete, Gyaros, Rhodes and Evia considered the likeliest to be offered to investors as part of the country’s efforts for an offshore energy portfolio of 1.9 GW by the end of the decade, energy ministry officials have informed.

EDEYEP, the Hellenic Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources Management Company, overseeing the effort, also set, late last year, 2027 as the inaugural year of these auctions.

The Greek government recently reduced the National Energy and Climate Plan’s 2030 capacity target for offshore wind farms to 1.9 GW from 2.7 GW.

EDEYEP has scoured Greek waters for locations suitable for development of offshore wind farms. Areas making the grade have been included in a National Offshore Wind Farm Development Program, presented just days ago by the company, along with a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment.

Flora Karathanasi, an EDEYEP consultant, named six of ten prospective offshore areas for initial development that would contribute to the 2030 target. The six areas are located northeast of Rhodes; around Gyaros, in the northern Cyclades; off Agii Apostoli in eastern Evia; off northeastern Crete, between Agios Nikolaos and Sitia; and off eastern Crete.

According to the National Offshore Wind Farm Development Program, five of these areas are planned to host floating wind turbines, while only one, off northeastern Crete, will host fixed-foundation wind turbines.

The program’s presentation coincides with a heightened level of international RES investment interest in Greek offshore areas.

Swedish-headquartered Hexicon’s Head of Business Development, Henrik Baltscheffsky, recently told energypress that Greece can become a European focal point for floating wind energy, a view he reiterated days later at the 5th Renewable & Storage Forum in Athens.

Also, the Greek subsidiary of Denmark’s Copenhagen Offshore Partners is scheduled to launch its Athens office this Thursday. COP is partnering with the fund management company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), with which Greece-based industrial and energy group Mytilineos shares an alliance.

In addition, Corio Generation, a subsidiary of Australian global financial services group Macquarie, has also expressed an interest to enter Greece’s nascent offshore wind sector. It has announced the formation of a joint venture with Greek company Globalsat.

These moves come following a series of like-minded announcements by domestic companies with major international players (Terna Energy – Ocean Winds; Helleniq Energy – RWE; Intrakat – Parkwind; Motor Oil – Masdar).

Shipping sector developing offshore wind farm interest

The shipping industry, domestic and foreign, is expressing growing investment interest for offshore wind farms and is awaiting the emerging sector’s regulatory framework to develop such projects in Greek sea territory, energypress sources have informed.

Though plans are still nascent, a considerable number of shipping companies and shipowners are already in talks with consultants for related feasibility studies.

Conditions for shipping industry players are favorable. Their earnings have skyrocketed amid abnormal market conditions, worldwide, ever since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020. These higher earnings have generated additional capital for investment, prompting shipowners to consider the potential of offshore wind farms.

Anticipating strong growth in this emerging sector, metals production group Viohalco plans to proceed with an investment estimated to be worth 70 and 100 million euros, which, through subsidiary Cenergy Holdings, will merge the knowhow of group members Hellenic Cables and Corinth Pipeworks for the establishment of the world’s first industrialized unit for floating wind turbines.

Norway’s Equinor, the world’s biggest developer of offshore wind farms, has already expressed interest to develop projects in Greece, proposing an area between the Cyclades islands of Tinos, Syros and Mykonos.

In addition, TERNA Energy has reached an agreement with Ocean Winds, a partnership between EDP Renewables and Engie, for co-development of offshore wind farms offering a 1.5-GW capacity. Also, Mytilineos has reached an agreement with Denmark’s Copenhagen Offshore Partners. Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) is currently engaged in talks with a major foreign company and Motor Oil has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar).

Power utility PPC is currently involved in talks with at least five foreign companies, including Australia’s Macquarie, which recently acquired a 49 percent stake in PPC subsidiary DEDDIE/HEDNO, Greece’s distribution network operator. PPC is also believed to be in talks with American fund Quadum.

The Copelouzos group has joined forces with RF Energy to establish Aegean Offshore Wind Farms, a company planning to develop offshore parks offering an 850-MW capacity.

Greek shipowners own 5,514 ships, controlling 32 percent of the world’s tankers, 25 percent of bulk carriers and 22 percent of LNG carriers, the latter category being crucial for Europe’s effort to end its reliance on Russian natural gas.

 

Offshore wind farm framework within first half, auction in ‘22

A legal framework for offshore wind farms will be ready within the next few months, no later than the end of the year’s first half, enabling investments in this sector to begin in Greece, the energy ministry has assured.

The energy ministry’s leadership is expected to reiterate this stance, without offering further scheduling details, at an event to be staged today by ELETAEN, the Greek Wind Energy Association. Energy minister Kostas Skrekas and the ministry’s secretary-general Alexandra Sdoukou will be participating.

Norway, a country with extensive offshore wind farm knowhow, will be strongly represented at the ELETAEN event. The Norwegian Ambassador to Greece, Frode Overland Andersen, and Daniel Willoch, a representative of NORWEA, the Norwegian Wind Energy Association, will take part.

So, too, will Giles Dickson, CEO at Brussels-based WindEurope, promoting the use of wind power in Europe.

If all goes as planned with efforts being made by the energy ministry, as well as ELETAEN, a first auction for offshore wind farms in Greece could be staged within the first half of 2022.

Considerable progress has been made in recent months, but pending issues on important details concerning spatial and licensing matters, connectivity with power grid operator IPTO’s network, as well as a remuneration formula for investors, all still need to be settled. The overall effort is complex and involves a number of ministries.

Investor interest in offshore wind farms is high as studies project electricity costs concerning floating units in Greece will experience a 40 percent decline by 2050. This cost, according to an older European Commission study, was estimated to drop from 76 euros per MWh in 2030 to 46 euros per MWh in 2050.

The same study estimated Greece’s offshore wind farm capacity would reach 263 GW, a prospect promising investors sustainability for the development of such projects.

Norway’s Equinor has already expressed the strongest interest for offshore wind energy development in Greece. Denmark’s Copenhagen Offshore Partners, also a major global player, has also shown some signs of interest.

As for Greek companies, TERNA Energy, the Copelouzos Group, and RF Energy have, in the past, submitted applications for offshore wind energy parks to RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy.

 

Investors keen on offshore wind energy parks, framework absent

A growing number of major renewable energy companies from abroad appear keen to develop offshore wind energy parks in Greece but the absence of legal framework covering this RES sub-sector is preventing any progress.

Representatives of at least two such foreign energy companies have spent time in Athens over the past few days for meetings with local authorities to explore the country’s offshore wind project prospects, energypress understands.

One of these, Copenhagen Offshore Partners, a Danish enterprise specializing in offshore wind projects, is believed to be eyeing the north Aegean area.

The other, US firm Invenergy, has been involved in recent meetings here to discuss the development of offshore wind projects in the south Aegean.

The RES sub-sector’s prospects in Greece were also explored last year by Norway’s Equinor. An undisclosed Spanish company is also believed to have looked into offshore wind project prospects.

Strong and dry seasonal winds appearing in the Aegean Sea in the summer, known as meltemia, are a major advantage for offshore wind projects in the area as they could provide support to the grid during summer, when electricity generation levels at onshore parks are lower.

Greek power grid operator IPTO is particularly interested in this prospect as it promises to reinforce grid security.

Also, the development of offshore wind energy facilities could play a key role in helping the country achieve ambitious renewable energy targets included in a revised National Energy and Climate Plan.