Rokas Iberdrola

Big RES projects on islands to be given IPTO cable access

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Investors behind major-scale RES project plans for non-interconnected islands and island complexes, previously granted licenses incorporating the installation of cable interconnections, will now be able to develop their renewable energy facilities and reserve capacities through interconnection infrastructure developed by power grid operator IPTO.

The energy ministry intends to attach a related amendment to a draft bill concerning environmental permits.

Licenses granted to investors in the past for major-scale wind energy farms on non-interconnected islands and island complexes expected investors to install related cable infrastructure for energy distribution.

Such licenses have been granted to the Copelouzos group and Terna for projects on Crete and Iberdrola Rokas for investment plans in the North Aegean.

The new legal framework being prepared by the ministry promises to offer investors greater flexibility as development of interconnection infrastructure will no longer be set as a condition for related RES project licenses.

Instead, investors will be able to reserve capacities through cable interconnections being developed by IPTO. However, investors will need to contribute to the cost of this infrastructure in accordance with their reserved share of the overall capacity.

Vestas reinforces dominance with new deals, including 54-MW order

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Vestas, a leading global partner for sustainable energy solutions, has further strengthened its leadership position in Greece with new orders  for wind projects placed by Volterra and Iberdrola, Vestas has announced.

Volterra has placed a 54-MW order for 15 V117-3.45 MW wind turbines delivered in 3.6 MW Power Optimised Mode for two wind parks in the Viotia region, northwest of Athens, according to a Vestas announcement.

Underlining Vestas’ ability to support customers in securing wind diverse energy projects, the order includes both the Kastro-Likovouni wind park derived from Greece’s feed-in premium system and the Ampelia wind park awarded at the country’s second renewables auction held in December 2018, Vestas informed.

“This order showcases the extent of the capabilities we offer to our customers as it covers projects derived from different energy schemes. Our vast experience, strong customer knowledge and leading technological solutions make Vestas the wind energy leader globally as well as in Greece. We are very glad to continue our very successful collaboration with Volterra”, said Marios Zangas, Head of Vestas Hellas.

Turbine delivery is planned for the second and third quarters of 2020 and commissioning for the second half of 2020.

Furthermore, Vestas has also won a 16-MW auction-derived order from Iberdrola for the Pyrgari wind park located in Viotia, the company  announced.

“We are very proud to have helped Iberdrola win this project and it underlines how our local experience and technology leadership enables us to successfully support our customers in the Greek auctions. We
believe that the project will benefit from the V150-4.2 MW turbine’s extremely competitive Levelised Cost of Energy and its perfect fit with the site’s wind conditions”, Zangas, the Vestas Hellas chief, noted.

In other company news, Vestas has also won an order for an 88-MW wind park in Greece with a 20-year Active Output Management 4000 (AOM 4000) service agreement, it announced. Other details remain undisclosed.

For this order, Vestas has developed a solution that includes the supply and installation of 21 V136-4.2 MW turbines equipped with Vestas Anti-Icing System to optimize performance at the site’s specific
climatic conditions, the company noted, adding the solution will minimize the risk of icing on the turbine blades, maximizing energy production in cold climate conditions.

These agreements lift the company’s total orders in Greece to over 1.9 GW and increase its market share to more than 50 percent, Vesta announced. The company installed the country’s first wind turbine back in 1986.

Since Greece launched its transition to an auction-based renewable energy system last year, Vestas has won more auctioned capacity than any other solutions provider, the company noted.

IPTO in Crete link talks with RTE, Elia, Scottish Power

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Greek power grid operator IPTO has begun its search for strategic partners in the development and operation of the Crete-Athens grid interconnection, sources have informed.

Last week, the operator’s chief executive Manos Manousakis informed a tender offering a stake in Ariadne Interconnector, an SPV established by IPTO for the project’s development, would be launched by the end of February with the aim of selecting new strategic investors within the next three months.

At this stage, IPTO appears to be planning to offer a 49 percent stake of its SPV to strategic partners for the Crete-Athens grid link project, budgeted at one billion euros.

IPTO has already approached three European operators, France’s RTE, Belgium’s Elia and Scottish Power, a subsidiary of Spain’s Iberdrola, the sources informed. Talks between IPTO and RTE, a participant in the power grid operator’s recent sale offering a 24 percent stake, are believed to have made the most progress so far.

IPTO has already taken preliminary pre-construction and financing steps for the Crete-Athens project, needed to combat a looming energy shortage threat on Crete. The operator, determined to pursue the link as a national project, is aiming for a 2022 launch.

IPTO has been embroiled in a dispute with Euroasia Interconnector, a consortium of Cypriot interests heading a wider PCI-status Greek-Cypriot-Israeli electricity grid interconnection project, for control of the Crete-Athens segment.

New wind turbine connections to grid rise by 7.2% in 2018

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A total of 103 new wind turbine facilities with a combined capacity of 191.6 MW were connected to the country’s grid in 2018, a 7.2 percent year-on-year increase, the ELETAEN figures showed, according to latest data released by ELETAEN, the Greek Wind Energy Association.

EREN, the renewable energy group founded and headed by Greek-French entrepreneur Paris Mouratoglou, has emerged as a new entry in Greece’s top-five list of RES investors with investments offering a total capacity of 210.9 MW, a 7.5 percent market share.

EREN, which recently established a strategic agreement with Total, is now ranked fifth, replacing Enel Green Power, which has dropped to sixth place.

The top-five list’s four other enterprises held their places. Terna Energy leads with 536.1 MW, a 19 percent share; El. Tech Anemos is ranked second with 285.6 MW (10.1%), Iberdrola Rokas is third with 250.7 MW (8.9%); and EDF EN Hellas is placed fourth with 238.2 MW (8.4%)., according to the ELETAEN data.

CF Ventus, a venture of the Fortress Fund, has emerged as Greece’s new RES market arrival following its acquisition of wind energy parks from the Libra group. CF Ventus is continuing to invest in the sector.

Facilities at old wind energy parks with a total capacity of 15.43 MW operated by PPC Renewables, primarily in Crete and the North Aegean, were uninstalled in 2018.  Work on their replacements has already begun.

Vestas continued to dominate Greece’s wind turbine supply market, providing an impressive 78.2 percent of all turbines installed in 2018.

As for the spatial distribution of wind capacity in Greece, the central mainland continues to be ranked first with 907 MW (32%) and is followed by the Peloponnese with 550 MW (19%) and eastern Macedonia-Thrace with 375 MW (13%).

 

IPTO, Iberdrola officials to hold Crete-Athens grid link talks

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Greek power grid operator IPTO and Spanish energy group Iberdrola representatives have planned a meeting for tomorrow following the latter’s interest for a role in the development of the Crete-Athens grid interconnection project.

IPTO is currently looking to establish partnerships with major European operators for this urgently needed project whose development promises to avert an electricity shortage threat on Crete in 2020. Greece faces an EU obligation to withdraw high-polluting power stations on the island by the end of 2019.

IPTO and Cyprus’s Euroasia Interconnector consortium have been locked in a dispute for control of the wider project’s Crete-Athens link.

At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, European Commission officials called for a solution by January that would enable the Greek operator to select project partners as long as technical requirements are supervised by a special committee as a means of ensuring compatibility between the Crete-Athens link and the wider Greek-Cypriot-Israeli interconnection.

It appears IPTO will not accept the request for the establishment of a special committee. Operator officials reminded that technical details concerning the project, as requested by RAE, were submitted by IPTO in late May and then backed by a sustainability plan.

IPTO officials contend that the European Commission’s handling of the matter is further delaying the project’s development.

The European Commission’s request for a special committee had been initially proposed by the Euroasia Interconnector consortium before being rejected by Brussels as an initiative that would block the project’s development, IPTO officials noted.

 

RES prices driven considerably lower at yesterday’s auction

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Intense bidding competition pushed prices considerably lower at yesterday’s descending-price RES auctions held by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, offering prices for solar and wind-energy project output.

Three auctions were staged for three sub-categories – small-scale photovoltaic installations of less than one MW; larger-scale PV installations measuring between one and 20 MW; and wind energy installations of between 3 and 50 MW.

The lowest price at the wind energy auction, whose starting price was set at 90 euros per MWh, reached 68 euros per MWh, while the highest price achieved for payment of RES energy production was close to 72 euros per MWh, energypress sources informed.

PPC Renewables, Iberdrola Rokas, Vendavel and a newly arrived foreign firm, which submitted the wind energy sub-category’s lowest bid, were among the participants who secured remuneration prices for output at projects.

At the auction for larger-scale PV installations, whose starting price was set at 80 euros per MWh, the smallest bid reached a level of 63 euros per MWh and the biggest was 71 euros per MWh. Germany’s ABO, whose bids were extremely aggressive, EYDAP, Biokarpet and Dimokritios were among the participants in this category.

Prices in the auction for small-scale PV installations, whose starting price was set at 85 euros, reached as low as 76 euros per MWh.

The top prices reached at yesterday’s three auctions will be used to shape the starting prices of the next RES auction.

Considerable delays that affected the online bidding system towards the end of the session, especially in the auction concerning small-scale PV installations, led to protests by participants who were not able to submit improved bids on time.

A RAE term requiring auction participation registrations to represent amounts exceeding the amounts to be auctioned by at least 75 percent was a key factor behind the intense bidding at yesterday’s session. The objective was to drive down prices for renewable energy output in order to burden consumers as least as possible.

Yesterday’s auction proves that it is realistic to limit the environmental footprint without incurring significant energy cost increases, energy minister Giorgos Stathakis commented following the session.

 

Foreign players new to Greek market apply for upcoming RES auction

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A number of foreign players new to the Greek market have submitted applications for wind and solar energy capacities to be offered at a RES auction on July 2.

Interested foreign players who met a June 5 deadline for applications include EDP Renovaveis, a subsidiary of Portugal’s EDP, among Europe’s major electricity operators.

According to energypress sources, EDP Renovaveis submitted applications for two wind energy projects with respective capacities of 45 MW and 15 MW. The company has purchased licenses from firms already active in the Greek market for these projects.

In another noteworthy development, Rokas Iberdrola, which had essentially stopped making investments over the past six years, also submitted an application.

China Three Gorges (CTG) holds a 23 percent stake of EDP, the parent company of EDP Renovaveis.

The Chinese firm recently made a 9.1 billion-euro offer to takeover EDP in its entirety. However, this offer, made on May 15, was rejected by the EDP board. CTG will need to make an improved offer if it is to stand a chance of buying out EDP.

Besides its role in the Portuguese market, EDP is also active in the natural gas and electricity markets of 14 countries, including the US (wind energy), Brazil (hydropower), France, Italy and Poland (wind energy markets of all three), as well as electricity generation and distribution in Spain.