Energy Minister: RES will contribute 70% to electricity consumption by 2030

“The crisis becomes an opportunity, only if it pushes us to change and does not paralyze us,” said Minister of Environment and Energy Costas Skrekas, during a briefing by Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson of the European Affairs, Production – Trade and Environment Committees.

The minister stressed that “the heinous war in the heart of Europe, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, among other things, highlighted the urgent need to work quickly, decisively and efficiently for the energy transition in Europe. To ensure energy security, but also our independence from those who think that they can either blackmail us or make us tolerate such illegal and reprehensible behaviors. Our common position shows how wrong Russia has been.” He noted that “there is no doubt that the consequent energy crisis poses great challenges and dilemmas for us at national and European level and in terms of choices, time solutions and implications for protecting our national economies, businesses and, above all, our citizens.”

The government has allocated 2.5 billion euros for the energy crisis

The Minister told the Commissioner that although our country “has so far moved with immediate reflexes, evaluating multidimensional solutions in an extremely suffocating international environment, although the government since last September has so far allocated 2.5 billion euros and PPC an additional 800 million euros to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis on citizens and businesses, this is not enough. The magnitude of the crisis is beyond the capabilities of the EU member states and requires courageous and decisive responses at European level. We have to keep up with the times, now before it’s too late.”

He reminded that the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented a comprehensive set of key points for the restoration of the proper functioning of the European energy markets. As well as that, since last September, he has submitted to the Council of Energy Ministers a specific proposal for the utilization of future revenues from the carbon dioxide auctions, so that in fair terms we can immediately mitigate the effects of the explosion of energy prices.

We need, said Mr. Skrekas, “to gather forces and ideas now, to consolidate a sense of security and to ensure conditions of progress for our citizens.” He added: “No one disputes that the REPowerEU is a dynamic and ambitious plan for decoupling from Russian fossil fuels and the changes are significant, but it is useful for the EU to set up funding mechanisms and tools to reduce costs for, among other things, such as the additional LNG infrastructure required, the obligation to store gas, the development of underground storage infrastructure “.

Integrated energy security plan

Mr. Skrekas stated that our country has “an organized plan for the consolidation of energy security in Greece, even if the most unfavorable scenarios become a reality in the short and long term”, while at the same time “we are transforming our country into a green energy node.”

In particular, the Minister stated that we are immediately launching the addition of an extra storage unit at the Revythousa terminal, through floating gas storage infrastructure, thus ensuring a smooth gas supply even in conditions of high cargo competition and possibly high prices. We are starting to increase the gasification of the station by 12% for higher coverage at the peak of demand. PPC presented its annual plan for lignite mining and its availability in the yards of the stations. In addition, we have the ability to operate with diesel 1.7 GWatt of installed transition of natural dual fuel-gas units. We are investigating gas storage in Italy and the application of virtual reverse flow through the TAP pipeline. Important tools are also the increase of flows from Azerbaijan through TAP, but also the readiness of DEPA for additional loads of liquefied natural gas.

In the second year, the implementation of the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis, which will be put into operation at the end of 2023, is crucial, as well as the new unit “Ptolemaida 5”. Two more projects, one in Corinth that is fully mature and will be included in the investments that may be eligible through REPowerEU, but also the second in Alexandroupolis will further enhance energy security not only of our country but also of SE Europe in general.

Go to green mix

Our national planning, said Mr. Skrekas, is clear and moves on three levels: “By strengthening businesses and households to deal with the energy crisis, exhausting the potential of the Greek economy, we are accelerating the energy transition.” We utilize the resources of the Recovery Fund for energy transformation. We are creatively coordinating with our partners for the implementation of common active policies that will promote our common future. Our goal is to move to a green mix, RES to contribute 70% of our total electricity consumption by 2030. In this direction in the next period we will submit the bill to further simplify the lending for RES, so that from 5 years are currently required to do so, it will happen in 14 months. We are crystallizing the institutional framework for energy storage that will contribute to the normalization of prices and will strengthen the adequacy of our networks. In the autumn we plan to hold the first tenders for projects of battery equipped energy storage facilities. At the same time we are actively investing in our networks, creating an additional electricity space of 5 GWatt within the next 5 years. We continue at an intensive pace and complete the spatial planning for RES. We are introducing by June, the legal framework for offshore wind turbines. We are allocating over 4 billion euros to save on energy. We are maturing the cooperation with the municipalities that will provide green energy to vulnerable households and businesses. We are doubling our energy connections such as Egypt, Italy, our northern neighbors, Cyprus and Israel. We are also reforming the wholesale market. For the islands, we are working with the European Investment Bank on financing for green energy and infrastructure. We support our citizens across the country through specialized strategic planning.