Wind-energy capacity registers sharp 104 MW rise in June

Posted on August 1, 2016 by admin

Wind-energy facilities registered a sharp installed capacity increase of 104 MW in June, according to data included in a monthly LAGIE (Electricity Market Operator) report.

This promising increase comes after months of stagnancy and disappointing capacity figures for all of the country’s renewable energy (RES) sub-sectors over the year’s first five-month period.

Installed capacity in the wind-energy sector rose to 1960.22 MW in June from 1,856.62 MW, producing 279,770 MWh of electricity.

As for other RES sub-sectors, capacity figures remained unchanged, except for a slight increase registered by roof-mounted photovoltaic systems, which gained 23.48 MW to reach a total capacity of 351.21 MW.

The total installed capacity of small hydropower plants stood at 223.13 MW, biomass units were unchanged at 52.23 MW, combined heat and power (CHP) capacity remained steady at 100.07 MW, and PV parks were unchanged at 2,093.12 MW.

Operator submits regulations proposal for NOME auctions

Posted on July 15, 2016July 15, 2016 by admin

LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, has submitted its market regulations proposal, in anticipation of the upcoming NOME auctions, to RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, according to energypress sources.

Regarded as being one of the most technically challenging requirements of the series of demands included in the bailout agreement, the proposal will now be forwarded by RAE for public consultation.

Two crucial issues, among many, need to be confronted by the regulations. One of these, highlighted by the international creditors, requires blocking energy-intensive industrial units from indirectly participating in the auctions by acquiring electricity supply permits in order to essentially supply themselves.

The creditors insist that the upcoming NOME auctions must not be utilized as an industrial cost-reducing tool but, instead, as a means to offer suppliers access to competitively priced fuels, both lignite and hydropower, which will drive down prices and further liberalize the retail electricity market.

To date, the main power utility PPC has had exclusive access to low-cost lignite and hydropower sources. The utility’s market dominance is beginning to erode as competition sets in.

LAGIE’s regulations propose setting an upper limit to electricity amounts suppliers will be permitted to sell to energy-intensive industries using over 13 GWh per year. It is estimated that this limit will represent about 35 percent of each supplier’s total electricity stock.

The new market regulations will also need to avert mass exports of low-priced electricity to be purchased by suppliers at the NOME auctions. International creditors insist that no limitations are required here but local authorities who prepared the new regulations believe that an upper limit must be applied.

The issue will be debated in the public consultation process before a final decision is reached.

Hirings to boost understaffed RAE, LAGIE in the making

Posted on April 14, 2016April 15, 2016 by admin

The Environment and Energy Ministry is preparing an amendment to a legislative bill that will permit RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, and LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, both currently understaffed, to overcome bailout-related limits and hire additional personnel.

RAE and LAGIE are both subject to a bailout-linked bill for public sector firms, permitting one recruit for every five departures.

RAE, in particular, is under pressure as the temporary contracts of 20 employees – of 80 in total – are due to expire in about three months, meaning the institution’s workforce will soon be down to 60 members.

The functional problems encountered by both RAE and LAGIE, as a result of staff shortages, have been raised by the ministry to the country’s lenders, who, according to Greek officials, are showing understanding. Not too long ago, last December, the lenders, during a discussion on the matter, had proposed that RAE and LAGIE be reinforced with staff on loan from equivalent institutions operating in other EU member states, such as Italy and Germany.

Had such a proposal been accepted, as ministry sources have pointed out, RAE’s independence, validity of opinions, and ability to operate as an institution would all have been undermined.

LAGIE, too, faces extreme staff-shortage pressure. The operator’s new president and managing director, Michalis Filippou, has already underlined the issue. LAGIE, whose workforce currently numbers 40 persons, will soon be expected to take on additional tasks such as management of NOME auctions and the new renewable energy source (RES) and combined heat and power (CHP) support system.

The NOME auctions will be introduced to provide third parties with access to main power utility PPC’s low-cost lignite and hydropower sources as part of the bailout-related obligation to help break the utility’s dominance.

Tariff revisions planned for high-output PV facilities

Posted on April 12, 2016 by admin

The government appears to be preparing to reduce tariffs for payment of electricity produced at photovoltaic parks with excessive output, compared to their installed capacities, to help balance the renewable energy sources (RES) special account.

This initiative has been included in a wider plan to confront various problems running through the country’s RES chain.

LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, has forecast the RES special account’s deficit will reach 190.64 million euros by the end of this year. The country’s lenders are demanding that the account’s deficit be eliminated. Otherwise, the RES-supporting ETMEAR surcharge included in electricity bills will need to be increased.

The news of this tariff intervention – essentially the first since tariffs were drastically cut as part of the so-called new deal, intended to put the RES sector in shape – will not affect most photovoltaic investments around Greece. It will concern PV installations in areas such as as the islands and southern Greece with major output and high returns on investment.

According to reliable sources, the reasoning behind the prospective tariff intervention is linked to terms offered through the new deal that were based on certain assumptions concerning factors such as installation costs and anticipated electricity production. Some PV fparks are producing far greater amounts of electricity due to their geographical positions or technology used.

Despite the new deal’s implementation, the RES special account’s deficit problem has not been resolved.

According to LAGIE, the fall in international price levels for CO2 emission rights has severly affected the RES special account’s revenues. CO2 emission rights represent a key source of revenue for the RES special account. The operator anticipates an annual revenue decrease of roughly 150 million euros from this source.

Other factors that have negatively impacted the RES special account include the reduced demand for electricity as a result of the recession, institutional framework revisions that have lowered the System Marginal Price (SMP), a RAE (Regulatory Authority for Energy) decision in December to slightly lower the ETMEAR surcharge on electricity bills, and the marginal RES capacity increase.

Payment delays to RES producers gradually worsening

Posted on February 26, 2016 by admin

The gradually increasing delay of payments by LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, to renewable energy source (RES) producers has added a further month to the waiting period, prompting concern among investors, who fear further deterioration may lie ahead.

The operator has just begun paying a small number of photovoltaic producers for output dating back to last September. As has become common practice, it should take LAGIE about a month to pay all producers for output during that month.

The operator is currently managing to pay producers about five to six months after they have issued invoices.

A large number of RES producers, in comments to energypress, expressed concern over the gradually widening period of time needed by LAGIE to meet payments. The development is affecting their own commitments, they noted.

In comments to energypress, LAGIE sources, admitting that the operator’s cashflow has tightened up, attributed the negative development to the main power utility PPC’s difficulties encountered in collecting electricity bill payments from a large percentage of consumers. The LAGIE sources noted this delay is consequently affecting PPC’s injection of a RES-supporting surcharge (ETMEAR) into the RES special account. This surcharge represents about half of the special account’s income.

The LAGIE sources also attributed the operator’s increased cashflow difficulty to the sunnier weather experienced during the months of July, August, and September, which boosts the output of photovoltaic systems and results in greater payments that need to be covered.

Besides the growing delay in payments, RES producers have also been unsettled by LAGIE’s latest forecast for the country’s RES special account. Just days ago, the operator reported it expects the RES special account’s deficit to widen considerably to 190.64 million euros in 2016 from 82.68 million euros at the end of last year.

RES special account deficit to widen, electricity market operator forecasts

Posted on February 25, 2016 by admin

The renewable energy sources (RES) special account deficit will widen to 190.64 million euros in 2016 from 82.68 million euros at the end of last year, LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, announced in its latest monthy report, delivered yesterday.

According to the operator, the drop in CO2 emission right international prices is affecting the RES special account’s revenues as CO2 right auctions represent a main source of income for the account.

Reduced electricity demand amid Greece’s ongoing recession, institutional framework revisions and their influence on the System Marginal Price (SMP) in the wholesale electricity market, as well as the slight RES capacity increase, are all proving to be detrimental for the RES special account, the LAGIE report stated.

As for new RES installations, the operator forecast capacity will reach 5,147 MW at the end of December from 4,778 MW last month in the interconnected system, a 7.7 percent increase propelled by wind-energy facilities. Their total capacity is forecast to reach 2,050 MW from 1,798 MW. The capacity of photovoltaic systems is expected to experience a more modest increase, to 1,855 MW from 1,807 MW.

Small changes are seen in other RES technologies, except for the biomass-biogas sub-sector, whose capacity is forecast to almost double to 90 MW from 55 MW.

Combined heat and power (CHP) production units are expected to increase their total capacity to 120 MW by December from 102 MW last month. Small-scale hydropower facilities are forecast to add a further 15 MW.

In the non-interconnected system, LAGIE expects a total capacity increase to 486 MW in December from 456 MW last month. This increase will be primarily driven by wind-energy installations, forecast to increase by 30 MW.

RES special account forecast to end 2015 with 15.68m-euro deficit

Posted on November 18, 2015November 18, 2015 by admin

The renewable energy sources (RES) special account is expected to end 2015 with a deficit of 15.68 million euros, according to a forecast made by LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, in its latest monthy report.

The RES special account deficit reached 86.6 million euros in September, according to the LAGIE report. The special account’s negative picture is expected to continue for the rest of the year, registering a 95.39 million-euro deficit in October, a 64.3 million-euro deficit in November, and a 15.68 million-euro deficit in December.

As for 2016, the LAGIE report forecasts surplus RES special account figures for the first five months, starting with a 21.07 million-euro surplus in January and ending with a 10.53 million-euro surplus in May. The account will then fall back into deficit territory in June with a deficit of 49.32 million euros, the latest LAGIE report noted.

The country’s installed RES capacity edged up to 5,191 MW in September from 5,190 MW in August, according to the report.

Biomass and biogas units were the only RES technology to register an installed capacity move, increasing to 50 MW in September from 49 MW.

The installed capacities of all other RES sub-sectors remained unchanged. The wind-energy sector registered 2,084 MW, photovoltaics 2,228 MW, roof-mounted photovoltaics 375 MW, small hydropower units 224 MW, and combined heat and power (CHP) production 230 MW.