RES project investors, facing higher costs, call for tariff increases

RES project investors are calling for an upward revision of fixed tariffs secured at previous auctions as a result of higher costs impacting their business plans.

Costlier prices for equipment and building materials, such as steel, as well as higher lending rates, have exceeded initial budget estimates of investors, making development of their projects extremely difficult, and, in some cases, impossible.

The call by investors for higher RES tariffs has yet to be officially expressed by any RES association.

According to sources, the energy ministry is well aware of the issue and considers the call by investors for higher tariffs a fair request. Officials at the ministry are believed to be working on a formula that would resolve the problem.

RES tariffs were recently increased in France and Portugal after officials determined their respective national green energy targets were in danger under the current market conditions.

RES targets, sector investments of €8.5bn at risk, officials warn

Greece needs to move swiftly to simplify renewable energy licensing procedures, ratify energy storage regulations and push ahead with electricity grid interconnections, especially the Dodecanese project, if RES objectives set for 2020 is are to be met and investments made, two key RES sector associations have stressed.

An objective aiming for RES-generated energy consumption of 40 percent by 2020 will be difficult to achieve, officials of ESIAPE, the Greek Association of Renewable Energy Source Electricity Producers, and ELETAEN, the Greek Wind Energy Association, have highlighted at a news conference.

RES-generated electricity represented 26.5 percent of total consumption in 2018, they noted.

Major bureaucratic issues continue to plague the sector despite significant steps taken both at an international level and locally, through the implementation of new terms, the respective chiefs of ESIAPE and ELETAEN, Giorgos Peristeris and Panagiotis Ladakakos, pointed out.

RES storage and grid interconnections investments worth 8.5 billion euros and planned for over the next five years, according to a related study, are in danger of not been executed, Peristeris warned. These promise to provide a 1.5 percent GDP boost, the ESIAPE president added.