Ministry preparing to request RES auctions extension

The energy ministry is preparing to submit an official request to Brussels for an extension of up to three years for RES auctions – both mixed and separate (solar, wind) technologies – a support system securing fixed 20-year tariffs for new wind and solar energy installations.

Greece’s current auction system expires at the end of this year. The energy ministry may seek an extension until the end of 2023, when RES auctions will no longer be available in the EU. A request for a shorter extension is also being contemplated at the ministry.

The energy ministry’s secretary-general Alexandra Sdoukou has called a meeting for September 18 to involve the participation of all related authorities for decisions before the official extension request is drafted.

A technical report published by global service provider GIZ, analyzing  Greece’s RES auctions over the past three years, RES market achievements during this period, as well as problems that have emerged, will serve as a base for the talks at the upcoming meeting.

The energy ministry wants to prevent any momentum drop in the RES market and believes fixed tariffs, through auctions, over extended periods are necessary as they secure financing for RES projects, and, by extension, their development.

On the other hand, the ministry does not want to overburden the market through excessive RES special account obligations.

Local energy communities plan receiving German support

An energy ministry plan promoting the establishment of energy communities is receiving German support through GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), a financing mechanism of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as was highlighted at the ongoing Thessaloniki International Fair over the weekend.

The GIZ mechanism, which provides support to plans and initiatives in southeast Europe, is backing the Greek energy ministry’s plan for energy communities as a result of an agreement reached by the two sides for the development of decentralized RES installations and community RES projects.

Energy communities offer decentralized, locally generated energy solutions.

Two leading energy ministry officials, Aliki Skliri and Dimitris Tsekeris, a close associate of energy minister Giorgos Stathakis, are scheduled to visit Berlin for a September 15 meeting at the foreign ministry on the Greek-German energy communities plan, officially titled “Technical assistance for renewable energies and energy efficiency in Greece”. It is being co-funded by the European Commission.

GIZ is currently also advising Greece’s energy ministry on needed legal framework revisions, which, it has stressed, are “crucial for further RES and energy efficiency development.”

GIZ has also collaborated with Greece’s energy ministry in the recent past, in 2015, as an adviser for the country’s new RES regulatory framework.