The Greek Wind Energy Association, ELETAEN, has forwarded mostly unfavorable views to the Ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change on the issue of state aid in the fields of energy and environment, as part of public consultation procedures.

Among other things, the association challenges the legal standing of EU proposals that include measures such as the abolition of compensation packages for renewable energy source ventures through offering guaranteed prices, as well as the possible replacement of compensation packages with competitions.

In its proposal, ELETAEN has called upon the ministry to reject the EU proposals and establish a working group, to include industry participation, for the development of an institutional framework offering support to renewable energy source ventures that would incorporate all positive and necessary aspects included in the EU proposals.

EU proposals such as the abolition of feed-in tariffs and competitions essentially turned against small and medium-sized ventures, the association noted. Such practices would wipe out Greek control in the domestic sector as only foreign wind-energy firms or vertically integrated energy companies would be able to operate within the framework set by the EU guidelines, the association warned.

ELETAEN also noted that the ministry, as part of the country’s political leadership, currently faced the dilemma of either permitting the development of an oligopoly of superpowers in the local energy sector market or maintaining an open, free market for all players, Greek and foreign.

ELETAEN, in the letter, also called for clear-cut, binding and ambitious targets by 2030, for the development of the renewable energy sources sector, which, the association noted, the European Commission had so far failed to establish.

“Given the benefits of the development of renewable energy for the European economy, EU energy security, and in tackling climate change, we do not understand the European Commission’s lack of resolution,” the association noted.