Industrial PPAs, offering faster RES connections, in demand

Industrial PPAs are in demand as a new legislative revision submitted to Parliament yesterday by the energy ministry promises swifter connection terms for RES producers.

The ministry’s proposed amendment includes provisions giving connection-term priority to RES projects that have established, or are set to establish, PPAs for their production with energy-intensive industrial consumers.

Taking into account the grid’s capacity limitations highlights how coveted PPAs have become for RES producers as, once the legislative revision has been ratified, capacity available to these producers is expected to further diminish and make even more challenging their ability to connect new RES projects to the grid.

In comments offered to energypress, a number of market officials admitted no clarity exists as to how easy or not it could become for RES producers to ensure connection terms beyond the legislative revision.

Power grid operator IPTO’s deputy chief Giannis Margaris recently informed that 12.5 GW in RES facilities are currently operating, adding that leeway exists for an additional 6 GW without any saturation issues.

Concerns being considered at present are about the future, as connection terms already issued, along with RES projects in operation, total nearly 30 GW, the IPTO deputy pointed out. The ongoing discussion has to do with the ability to offer connection terms in the future, he pointed out.

 

 

 

Grid injection cuts to sharply increase over next two years

Grid-injection cuts of renewable energy production offered to the grid will increase considerably over the next couple of years as a result of a greater presence of operating renewables combined with relatively slower incorporation of energy storage units to the grid, formulas applied to calculate prospective cuts have shown.

RES grid-injection cuts totaled 228 GW in 2023 but are expected to more than double this year, reaching over 500 GW, before skyrocketing to more than 1.5 TWh in 2025, according to projections, which is unfavorable news for RES producers and consumers, who would both benefit if this output were fully utilized.

A first wave of energy storage units is not expected to be linked to the grid until early 2026, meaning grid operators will have no choice but to dump excess renewable energy production made available over the next two years.

At present, RES facilities in operation offer a total production capacity of between 11.5 and 12 GW, while the market penetration rate of new units entering the grid totals 2 GW, annually, and consists mostly of PVs.

At this rate, RES facility additions to the country’s grid are expected to total roughly 16 GW by 2026.

Over this period, electricity demand is projected to grow modestly, from 49 TWh in 2023 to 49.5 TWh in 2024 and 51 TWh in 2025. Such demand levels will be insufficient to fully absorb the additional RES output expected to be made available over the same period.

 

Ministry determined to ensure PPAs for industrial consumers

The energy ministry appears determined to ensure renewable-energy PPAs for industry and intends to incorporate all required measures into an overall plan being developed for the liberalization of grid space.

However, the ministry has a conundrum to resolve as it must combine increased grid-injection restrictions for RES units obtaining connection terms from now on with the need to keep prices low for PPAs involving RES producers and industry.

These increased grid-injection restrictions for RES units come as a challenge for renewable-energy PPAs already established, among them agreements between power utility PPC with metal processing company Viohalco and cement producer Titan.

Besides modifying RES output, these restrictions also affect data used by parties involved in PPAs to reach agreements on electricity purchase prices.

To offset negative impact, the ministry is considering to subsidize behind-the-meter battery additions to projects. This would enable RES producers to meet the energy needs of industries at latter dates should PV production exceed upper limits.

A subsidy-support solution would require the European Commission’s approval as it is considered a form of state aid.

 

Stricter RES project timeline considered to free up capacity

The energy ministry is considering to introduce stricter timelines for the completion of RES projects possessing connection terms, the initiative’s aim being to free up grid capacity.

As part of the effort, the energy ministry has asked for power grid operator IPTO’s opinion on whether existing RES project development timelines should be made tighter in order to eliminate projects that have stalled for a variety of reasons.

The ministry believes that a proportion of grid space that would become available through the implementation of a tighter development schedule for RES projects should be allocated to the distribution network for the development of small-scale photovoltaics. Priority would be given to self-consumption applications.

Deputy energy minister Alexandra Sdoukou presented the fundamentals of the overall plan at a recent event staged by SEF, the Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Companies. Releasing grid space and distributing this capacity to new projects are the plan’s two key aspects, she explained.

Greater grid-injection restrictions for renewables and the addition of batteries to RES projects with connection terms are paramount in the effort to broaden available capacity, Sdoukou reiterated.

Grid capacity-boost plan a catalyst for RES investment

The government’s leadership has approved the fundamentals of a package of measures proposed by the energy ministry to boost the electrical grid’s capacity and facilitate connection terms for new RES projects.

This development, to offer incentive for further investment in renewables, paves the way for the ratification of interventions decided on by the energy ministry.

These measures will prevent a disruption of connect terms granted by the country’s operators for new RES projects.

The measures, expected to be submitted to Parliament imminently, possibly by the end of the month, will ensure that further capacity will become available in a few months’ time so that projects that are either already operating or have secured connection terms reflect the country’s RES-penetration goals for 2030.

These targets stand as a key priority for the energy ministry as a boost in renewable energy sources promises to benefit consumers by lowering wholesale electricity prices and subsequently decreasing retail electricity prices.

RES project grid applications reach unrealistic level of 42 GW

RES project applications being submitted to power grid operator IPTO by investors, for grid capacity reservations, have continued at an alarming rate, resulting in an enormous and unrealistic wave of applications representing a total of roughly 42 GW, energypress sources have informed.

The applications concern more than 1,700 prospective RES units holding either producer certificates or production licenses and representing an overall capacity of 34.1 GW, as well as group applications representing 7.9 GW in prospective RES units, the sources noted.

In addition to these grid capacity-reservation applications totaling 42 GW, 15 GW in RES units currently under development have received finalized connection offers, while 10.6 GW in RES units are operating, according to IPTO’s updated ten-year development program covering 2024 to 2033.

This essentially means that RES projects representing an overall capacity of 67.6 GW have either secured grid reservations or submitted applications for reservations.

Quite clearly, a large number of the 42-GW in RES projects for which grid-reservation requests have been submitted will not be developed. The upgraded National Energy and Climate Plan for 2050 has set a 54.4-GW target for installed capacity covering photovoltaics, onshore wind farms, combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) projects, biomass-biogas plants, and small-scale hydropower plants.

 

Measures freeing grid space headed for Parliament

The energy ministry, seeking to encourage further RES investment, plans to soon submit to Parliament a comprehensive package of measures designed to free electrical grid space and make available capacity for new RES units.

These interventions will enable power grid operator IPTO to increase the number of new connection terms granted to RES investors.

The ministry’s package of measures, which could be submitted to Parliament before January is out, are expected to include initiatives such as greater grid-injection restrictions as well as terms promoting battery installations at RES facilities without batteries.

The measures will be implemented at a latter stage, as part of a second wave of efforts, by a project management group established by the ministry. This group has been tasked with finding solutions for greater RES penetration and optimal management of the grid’s limited capacity.

The group will need to address and fine-tune details that determine the extent of grid-injection restrictions; specify which RES units will be subjected to these new restrictions; and also inform which RES units may install batteries and under what terms.

The group’s effort will be aligned with the National Energy and Climate Plan’s goals set for 2030.

 

 

Stagnant RES projects to be terminated as ‘non-existent’

The energy ministry plans to classify RES projects that have secured connection terms but remained stagnant as non-existent in order to free grid capacity for new projects with development prospects.

According to data included in power grid operator IPTO’s ten-year development plan, RES projects with a capacity of approximately 14.9 GW are currently registered for development.

The eventual cancellation of stagnant RES projects could make available an estimated 2.5 GW in freed grid capacity for new projects. The exact figure on freed up grid capacity will be determined following IPTO’s inspection of the 14.9 GW portfolio.

This solution, clearing the grid of dormant RES projects, is intended to represent part of a wider effort by the energy ministry to utilize the grid and maximize RES growth in Greece.

Other initiatives are expected to include RES output grid-injection restrictions and mandatory installation of batteries to RES units in exchange for fixed tariffs.

Energy communities, business PVs to gain from freed capacity

The energy ministry is considering to offer half of a 2.5-GW amount in freed grid capacity resulting from an increase of capacity limits at existing substations to three self-producing categories.

Residential RES producers would, according to the ministry’s plan, be offered 40 percent of this freed 1.25-GW capacity, self-producing farmers will be eligible for a 30 percent share, while the other 30 percent will be reserved for self-producers in the secondary and tertiary sectors, as well as energy communities.

The other 1.25 GW of the 2.5-GW capacity total is planned to be allocated exclusively to companies qualifying for subsidy programs supporting PV installations.

Also, the power generation limit is planned to be maintained at 10 KW for residential producers and increased to 100 KW for all other aforementioned categories.

Brussels looks to block uncertain RES projects from outset

The European Commission has taken a further step aiming to free electricity grid capacities from uncertain projects by calling on energy regulators throughout the EU to establish disincentives and filters blocking indefinite investments from the beginning of application processes.

Brussels has decided to take action as a considerable number of RES investment plans in the EU have remained stagnant, including in Greece, needlessly occupying precious grid capacities.

The European Commission has issued instructions calling for national energy regulatory authorities to establish rules discouraging RES projects from the outset if investors behind the projects do not have serious intentions.

New stricter rules should be introduced throughout the EU to stop investors from submitting applications if they are not certain about follow-up action, Brussels has urged.

 

Project group to prepare framework for RES output cuts

A project management group recently founded by the energy ministry will, as its first task, prepare a recommendation for the ministry concerning the establishment of framework regulating green-energy output cuts over a long-term period, meeting the grid’s needs and further RES penetration for at least ten to fifteen years.

The group, led by head coordinator Stavros Papathanasiou, professor at the National Technical University of Athens, includes officials from the energy ministry, energy exchange, power grid operator IPTO, distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO, and RES market operator DAPEEP.

The proposed permanent framework is expected to distribute RES output cuts across various project categories.

The group will also consider whether RES projects not injecting output into the system should be compensated, under specific terms and conditions.

Zero-level wholesale prices reawaken RES investor fears

Zero-level electricity prices recorded over a nine-hour period yesterday in the wholesale market as a result of overproduction in wind power due to strong winds have reawakened RES investor fears of massive energy cuts.

If it weren’t for a sudden dip in temperatures around the country yesterday, which boosted energy demand, the grid operator would have been forced to cut far more than the 60 MW in solar energy and 200 MW in wind energy that it was forced to block from the grid, for approximately one hour, to prevent grid overloading and ensure stability.

Resulting zero-level wholesale electricity prices and increased exports to neighboring markets does not mean that authorities can remain complacent.

On the contrary, the overproduction threat faced by RES investors will continue to grow, impacting revenues of their photovoltaic and wind energy facilities, as RES penetration of the system deepens and many renewables are activated without batteries.

Had yesterday’s developments taken place a week earlier, when weather conditions were milder, far more drastic RES output cuts would have been needed.

Regularly collapsing wholesale electricity prices and resulting RES output cuts by the grid operator are two factors RES producers will now definitely need to take into account when preparing their green-energy business plans.

 

First support auction for PVs with batteries by February

The energy ministry is working to complete plans by the end of this year for a first auction, no later than February, 2024, offering investment and operational support to mature-level solar energy projects possessing connection terms and planned to incorporate batteries, energypress sources have informed.

According to the sources, the upcoming first auction will offer investors support for a total capacity of between 200 and 300 MW, as part of the ministry’s wider plan to aid a 2-GW portfolio of solar energy farms with batteries behind the meter.

The ministry’s objective is to preserve as much grid capacity as possible. The addition of batteries to solar energy projects, even if small-sized with capacity to store just one hour’s worth of energy, offers a 50 percent reduction in grid capacity occupied by projects.

A considerable number of projects are expected to take part in the series of support auctions, power grid operator IPTO’s development program data for 2024 to 2033, published last June, has indicated.

According to this data, 10,590 MW of photovoltaics have connection terms for the transmission system and 1,141 MW for the distribution network.

As previously reported by energypress, RES projects taking part in these auctions will face strict electrification deadlines, the objective being to limit participation to truly feasible RES projects with batteries.

As a result, IPTO will know when grid capacity will be released by photovoltaics and be in a position to offer investors precise information on connection-term delivery.

Ministry working to resolve PPA issues faced by industry

The energy ministry is working on a plan that would allow industrial enterprises to use green-energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) as a means of gaining long-term visibility on energy costs, while keeping supply prices at internationally competitive levels.

As part of the effort, the ministry is seriously considering the possibility of requiring RES projects that secure tariffs at future RES auctions to sign bilateral contracts with industrial consumers for a share of their overall power output.

Though a first round of green-energy PPAs involving energy-intensive consumers have already been established, challenges have been encountered, a key problem being a drastic reduction in grid capacity availability.

One solution being worked on by the energy ministry entails increasing an injection limitation for new photovoltaics to 50 percent of output, as well as making battery installations compulsory for new solar farms.

New RES auctions for battery-equipped units in the making

A series of RES auctions starting in early 2024 for battery-equipped renewable energy projects of around 2 GW, which will be open to investors who have already secured connection terms, is a key feature of a plan being shaped by energy minister Thodoris Skylakakis to deal with grid insufficiencies.

A decision on the matter seems to have been taken, as suggested by the minister during an interview yesterday at the ongoing two-day Renewable & Storage Forum conference in Athens. He did not elaborate as a number of technical issues remain pending.

Strict conditions will be set for swift electrification of these new RES projects. It is believed that RES projects securing tariffs at the first auction will need to be operating by December 31, 2024. All ensuing auctions will also commit bidders to swift launches of new RES projects.

This zero-tolerance approach comes as a complete contrast to the progress of 3 GW in RES projects that had secured connection terms back in 2020 but have yet to be launched, as was pointed out at the conference by power grid operator IPTO’s chief executive Manos Manousakis, who called for stricter regulations.

 

Incentives, through auction, planned for PVs with batteries

The energy ministry is considering to offer incentives to PV facility investors for behind-the-meter battery installations as a means of freeing up grid capacity, a solution that would enable power grid operator IPTO to resume offering new connection terms, currently on hold as a result of grid-capacity restraints.

According to the ministry’s plan, incentives would be offered in the form of tariffs secured by PV producers through auction.

Essentially, these auctions would only be open to PV projects possessing finalized grid connection term offers and equipped with batteries. The auctions would offer higher tariffs taking into account the increase in investment cost.

At present, RES projects under development and already possessing finalized grid-connection term offers represent a total capacity of 15 GW. If a portion of these projects are equipped with batteries behind the meter, then a significant amount of grid capacity could be saved to facilitate new green-energy investments.

 

 

 

Ministry rules out RES licensing-priority revisions

The energy ministry has ruled out any possibility of licensing priority revisions in a ministerial decision detailing power grid operator IPTO’s order of RES project connection-term application appraisals to specifically promote new solar energy projects equipped with batteries, energypress sources have informed.

Power grid operator IPTO is currently assessing connection-term applications submitted by RES producers with projects in top-tier Group A. The procedure may have already been completed.

Assessments of applications for Group B projects, grouping together prospective RES units intended for green-energy power purchase agreements between RES producers and industrial consumers, will follow.

The ministry revised the ministerial decision last January to increase the grid capacity that may be occupied by PPA-linked RES units as an upper limit for Group B projects was raised to 4,000 MW.

The issue has become complex as new PVs will need to start being equipped with batteries in order to minimize RES output cuts, carried out to prevent grid overloading.

However, the growing need for combined RES-and-storage facilities, to enable more efficient usage of grid capacity, changes financial factors taken into consideration by RES producers and industrial consumers for their green-energy PPAs. These factors are invalidated as the addition of batteries increases the development cost of projects.

 

PV auction tariffs may be limited to units with batteries

The energy ministry, which has identified an urgent need for battery integration into PV projects, aims to incentivize such a combination by restricting PV tariffs offered at RES auctions for investors developing solar energy units with storage units.

The ministry fears prospective solar energy growth would have an unfavorable wider impact on the grid if PV projects develop at a faster rate than battery usage.

Solar energy farms are seen, by the ministry, as a key problem as they operate in coordinated fashion, producing energy at the same time of day, regardless of where they are located around the country, whereas wind farms, offer inconsistent output, day and night, which varies depending on their location.

Installed RES capacity growing at a faster rate than electricity storage would not only shrink available grid capacity but will also exacerbate RES cutbacks, made to prevent grid overloading, the ministry has noted.

Operator prioritizing grid projects for RES penetration

Distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO, driven by the necessity to accommodate for increased penetration of renewable energy sources, is currently engaged in a comprehensive evaluation process to identify the segments of the network that should be prioritized for reinforcement work.

As noted by the operator in its response to a related comment submitted during consultation of its development plan for 2022 to 2026, prioritization of grid reinforcement projects aimed at increasing RES penetration has been based on the level of activity at respective substations, technical feasibility of infrastructure reinforcement, and the possibility of connecting additional RES units to the grid, in cooperation with the System Operator.

The most mature reinforcement projects are being promoted for immediate implementation and financing through the Recovery Fund, the operator added.

RES investors renew interest for 8 in 10 stagnant projects

Roughly eight in ten investors with RES projects that had stagnated after receiving final connection offers from power grid operator IPTO as they failed to submit, as a follow-up action, connection applications, have now responded to a deadline set by the energy ministry, determined to clear away any backlog of abandoned projects occupying valuable prospective grid capacity.

Investors behind stagnant RES projects that had received final connection offers until December 31, 2020 were given until June 30 to submit connection applications.

This wave of bogged down RES projects concerned a portfolio totaling roughly 900 MW.

According to energypress sources, investors behind projects totaling approximately 700 MW met the June 30 deadline connection applications, meaning that projects representing about 200 MW will now be withdrawn to free up some grid capacity.

 

Capacity insufficiency plan for 11 non-interconnected islands

Distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO has forwarded a plan to RAAEY, the Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water, detailing how capacity insufficiencies on 11 non-interconnected islands are intended to be covered this summer.

The operator attached its proposed solution to a wider development plan for the non-interconnected islands between 2023 and 2029.

DEDDIE/HEDNO’s plan includes proposals for Rhodes, Santorini, Samos, Lesvos, Chios, Karpathos, Limnos, Ikaria, Kythnos, and Kastellorizo (officially named Megisti), as well as the Kos-Kalymnos grid.

Emergency measures have been required in recent years as a result of prolonged heatwave conditions combined with increased tourism.

DEDDIE/HEDNO’s proposals include a wind-energy facility purchase or long-term rental plan to cover Rhodes’ capacity insufficiency of 17.51 MW.

In addition, long-term rental plans have been proposed by the operator for Santorini’s capacity insufficiency, estimated at 20 MW, Samos’s 12-MW insufficiency, Lesvos’ insufficiency of 14 MW, and Chios’ shortage of 24.5 MW.

IPTO regulatory framework for RES output cuts in the pipeline

Power grid operator IPTO plans to soon work on a regulatory framework intended to configurate RES output cuts, the operator’s CEO Manos Manousakis has told an annual event staged by the Greek Wind Energy Association (ELETAEN).

IPTO will establish a working group with ELETAEN to examine RES grid injection restrictions that will need to be applied whenever necessary to ensure grid stability, the IPTO chief noted.

The prospective regulatory framework is intended to eventually replace a formula already being applied by IPTO for universal and proportional cuts in RES production.

The framework’s criteria will be fashioned in accordance with the grid’s features and needs, essentially meaning RES cuts will vary depending on RES unit technology.

Until the regulatory framework is drafted, IPTO, as a transitional solution, will continue cutting RES grid injections based on the production capacity of respective RES units.

RES investors have underlined the regulatory framework for RES output cuts will affect projected revenues of RES units and, as a result, is already impacting their negotiations with banks for loans concerning new projects.

Cuts on small-scale and large-scale RES units will need to be proportional, rather than based on the operator’s technical capabilities, investors have noted.

 

 

Three CCGTs to vie for two grid spots covering 1.9 GW, Aurora study shows

Three new combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants will be vying for two spots on the electricity grid to cover an available capacity of 1.9 GW, a latest study conducted by Aurora Energy Research and covering the period between 2022 and 2030 has shown.

The Aurora Energy Research study estimated the grid’s available capacity at 2.7 GW but subtracted 820 MW to be offered by the Mytilineos group’s already-completed CCGT in Viotia’s Agios Nikolaos area, slightly northwest of Athens.

The three candidate projects are a CCGT power plant being co-developed by GEK TERNA and Motor Oil in Komotini, northeastern Greece; a power plant being constructed by power utility PPC, gas company DEPA Commercial and the Copelouzos group’s Damco Energy in Alexandroupoli, also in the northeast; as well as PPC’s Ptolemaida V, when it converts from a lignite to natural gas-fueled facility in 2028.

Development of Thermoilektriki Komotinis, the GEK TERNA-Motor Oil CCGT in Komotini, has reached an advanced stage and is considered the most efficient power plant in Greece. Once operational, it will emit 75 percent less CO2 than a lignite plant.

Work on the Alexandroupoli CCGT began last January and is slated for completion in 2025. PPC holds a 51 percent stake, DEPA Commercial has a 29 percent share, and the Copelouzos group’s Damco Energy maintains the remaining 20 percent. This facility will be equipped to also run on hydrogen and mixed fuel.

 

IPTO moves fast to issue 4,250 MW in RES connection offers

Power grid operator IPTO has issued connection offers totaling a capacity of 4,250 MW for RES projects seeking grid space since the arrival of a recent ministerial decision signed last August and revised in late January to shape the procedure’s details, including its fast-track priority system.

The operator has also received a substantial number of applications for a first wave of standalone batteries representing a total capacity of 5,340 MW. These applications have already received environmental permit, meaning the turnout for an upcoming investment support program expected to be staged by the end of June will be considerable.

A ministerial decision will need to be issued this month so that a first auction may be staged within Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) fund deadlines.

‘Incentives for battery additions to PVs would free up grid space’

Power grid operator IPTO’s Deputy Chairman, Ioannis Margaris, participating in a panel discussion at yesterday’s second and final day of the Power & Gas Forum in Athens, proposed incentives for behind-the-meter energy storage unit additions to still-unelectrified solar panel installations as a means of making available extra grid capacity for new RES projects.

Efficient use of the grid’s limited capacity is crucial. Authorities have already warned that unless drastic action is taken, the country’s grid capacity is headed towards exhaustion in the coming years.

At present, occupied grid capacity totals 25 GW, 11 GW concerning RES projects already operating and 14 GW concerning active final connection offers, the IPTO deputy noted.

Margaris stressed that grid access in many parts of the country will soon become unavailable given the large number of RES project connection applications submitted by investors to IPTO.

Stricter terms limiting the duration of connection offers for stagnant projects, a measure that was recently ratified in Parliament as part of a multi-bill submitted by the energy ministry, will help free up valuable grid capacity, the IPTO deputy stressed.

Also taking part in the forum’s panel discussion, Dr. Stavros Papathanasiou, Professor at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), agreed that a solution concerning the addition of energy storage units to RES projects will, sooner or later, need to be adopted.

Adding behind-the-meter batteries to solar panel systems, either under development or already operating, is the only option to avoid big project cuts as the objective is to accommodate as many RES units as possible into the grid’s limited capacity, the professor stressed.

Battery additions will, of course, increase the cost of solar energy projects, but this increase should not add more than 15 to 20 euros per MWh to the cost of electricity produced by each project, assuming batteries with a duration of between 0.5 and one hour are installed, Papathanasiou informed.

 

Incentives for RES projects with storage units considered

The energy ministry is considering subsidy support and licensing simplification initiatives as incentives that could encourage RES investors to add energy storage units to projects that have already received connection offers.

Although the ministry’s thoughts on the issue are still nascent, it is already favorably inclined to pursue the plan, proposed by sector experts, as it would free up significant grid capacity and enable further RES development for a bigger green-energy share of the energy mix.

Highlighting the benefits offered by RES projects incorporating energy storage units, a RES project with a capacity of 100 MW, for example, would occupy 72 MW of the grid, whereas the same project would take up approximately 50 MW of the grid if it were to be equipped with an energy storage unit.

Efficient use of the country’s grid, saturated at certain points, is crucial. RES units in operation and maturing RES projects possessing final connection offers currently represent a total capacity of 24 to 25 GW, just below the transmission system’s projected capacity of approximately 29 GW in 2030.

Stalled RES projects totaling 3.6 GW to face ultimatums

RES projects that have received final connection offers in the past from power grid operator IPTO but have remained stagnant as a result of failing to submit contract applications will be set deadlines, as part of an energy ministry effort to free up urgently needed grid capacity.

A related amendment has been included in an energy ministry multi-bill covering a range of matters. It will be taken to Parliament next week for debate and ratification.

Older RES projects representing a total capacity of 2.4 GW are estimated to have stalled since receiving final connection offers, along with a further 1.2 GW in green-energy projects that had submitted their applications collectively.

Sector officials believe that older RES projects representing 1.5 GW of this 3.6 GW tally in stalled projects will be withdrawn as a result of the deadlines to be set by the energy ministry, freeing up coveted space for new RES investments.

According to the ministry’s new terms, RES projects that received final connection offers up until December 31, 2020 will need to submit their contract applications by June 30, 2023. RES projects that received final connection offers between January 1 and December 31 in 2021 will have until August 31, 2023 to submit contract applications.

RES units currently operating in Greece represent a total capacity of 11 GW.

IPTO’s Western Corridor power line to be delivered next month

A much-delayed section of a power transmission line project in Greece’s west, dubbed the Western Corridor, for which its developer, IPTO, the power grid operator, was forced to bypass a monastery in the Kalvryta area following objections and legal action taken by its nuns, is expected to be delivered by the end of this month, enabling the wider project’s launch by mid-April, energypress sources have informed.

The new 400-KV double circuit transmission line will enable a high-voltage center in Megalopoli, central Peloponnese, to be connected to 400-KV circuits at Antirio, on the mainland’s southern coast. This will boost the Peloponnese’s existing transmission line connections, currently entirely facilitated by 150-KV transmission lines linked with the wider Athens area and western Greece.

The new Western Corridor transmission line, comprised of aerial, underground and underwater sections, has been 98-percent ready since 2019, the missing link being a section that was originally planned to run by the monastery, at a 500-meter distance. Legal action taken by the Kalavryta-area monastery’s nuns blocked the installation of two pylons, forcing a change of course further away from the monastery.

This section’s development was put on hold for several months as a result of the legal action taken by the monastery.

The project’s launch will not offer additional grid capacity for RES projects. RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has already factored in the additional increased capacity that would be freed up by the project.

Increased grid capacity will, however, be made available for new RES project additions once the Eastern Corridor, a 400-kV transmission line linking Megalopoli, Corinth and Athens, is completed.

HEDNO: Grid capacity boost of 5 GW by 2025 for RES units

Distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO plans to increase the network’s capacity by 5 GW to 13.5 GW by 2025 to facilitate RES output, Dimitris Vranis, the operator’s Director of the Network Users Division, has told an industry event in Thessaloniki.

The capacity goal set in the revised National Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 would, as a result, be exceeded, noted Vranis, while offering his views on the progress of PV and energy storage unit licensing at an annual event staged by POSPIEF, the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Photovoltaic Producer Societies.

A 25-GW objective has been set by the NECP for RES penetration by 2030, the official said.

Considering that half the RES units to be involved in this further penetration are expected to concern low and medium-voltage connections, the distribution network will need to be able to host projects representing 12.5 GW.

Given this projection, the operator’s aim for a distribution network capacity increase to 13.5 GW by 2025 exceeds the aforementioned capacity needed by 8 percent.

In addition, between 2025 and 2030, DEDDIE/HEDNO plans to further boost the network’s capacity by 2 GW, increasing it to 15.5 GW, Vranis told the POSPIEF event.

At present, RES facilities representing a total capacity of 6.5 GW are linked to the distribution network, the DEDDIE/HEDNO official noted.

Some 7,000 small-scale RES projects representing a total capacity of approximately 2 GW are now being developed, most of these PVs, while 5,300 units are privately owned and represent a capacity of roughly 400 MW, Vranis noted.

 

Grid capacity for net metering, energy community projects

Investor application rights for new solar energy projects will continue to remain suspended for an indefinite period, but existing distribution network capacity will be made available to investors submitting applications for net metering and energy community-related projects, highly ranked energy ministry officials have informed energypress.

The ministry is determined to offer as much grid capacity as possible for projects aiming to reduce the cost of energy for a wide range of consumers, the energy ministry officials noted.

Grid capacity totaling 2.5 GW has been reserved for roof-mounted photovoltaics concerning net metering projects. This reservation is expected to enable the installation of approximately 250,000 solar energy systems of up to 10 KW in the household, small business and farming categories.