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WindEurope has advice for Greece to accelerate wind power installations, given the country’s sluggish performance.
WindEurope expects Greece to add 300 MW of wind capacity in 2025, after 152 MW came online in the first six months. It is an improvement from the mere 108 MW of the entire 2024, but still far below previous years. For example, in 2023, the country added 544 MW of wind power. WindEurope’s Director of Advocacy and Messaging Viktoriya Kerelska has suggested solutions to increase the pace.
Greece needs to integrate the latest version of the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive – RED3 – to facilitate faster and simpler licensing, she said at the Renewable and Storage Forum in Athens.
Other member states are behind schedule with the legislation as well. The European Commission opened infringement procedures in July by sending letters of formal notice to 26 of them – all except Denmark.
Kerelska: Do it like Germany
Furthermore, WindEurope believes that the concept of superior national interest must be applied in Greece, according to Kerelska.
Based on European law, it would allow easier wind farm deployment, while overriding unjustified public reactions that delay the process.
Kerelska added that Germany already applied the principle with great success.
Power purchase agreements (PPAs) are underutilized in Greece.
Therefore, the country should reintroduce wind power auctions, which it held until 2022, for support under contracts for difference (CfDs), according to the association.
One last issue is the delay in the national offshore wind program, which the government has not submitted yet to parliament for adoption, Kerelska noted.
HWEA: Time is running out
Easy times for renewable energy are over, Chairman of the Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA or ELETAEN) Panagiotis Ladakakos said. The sector faces difficult decisions and potential hidden costs, while time is running out to make changes in the regulatory and legal framework, he claimed.
HWEA called on the government to introduce a curtailment allocation mechanism within which curtailed energy would be calculated. Namely, the cuts are not spread evenly, and wind farms connected to the transmission network suffer higher costs. The government has promised to introduce a mechanism by the end of 2025.
The organization said energy storage facilities should be able to have joint grid connection points with renewable energy plants. It referred to projects where the battery’s capability or operating power can be as high as the installed capacity for electricity production.
HWEA added that Greece requires to enact its national offshore wind plan and a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to carry out offshore studies. Moreover, it urged for the development of a new renewable energy spatial plan and more incentives for consumers in areas hosting renewable energy plants.
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