After a first pilot tender in 2016, Greece will hold further auctions in July. They will tender 300 MW respectively to both PV and wind energy. The aim of the scheme is to support and promote renewable energies.

Over the course of the past few years, the economic crisis in Europe has hit Greece hard. Once a leader in adding new installations, the progress almost came to a halt. Now, however, the country seeks to revive the trend and has thus started a new scheme aiming to support and promote renewables.

New scheme to boost renewables

The new tender-based scheme is financed via a levy applied to retail electricity prices and was kicked off in 2016 with a first pilot tender. The scheme follows the state-aid guidelines implemented by the European Union (EU), which encourages member states hold competitive tenders in order to assign utility-scale renewable energy projects. Following this, Greece gave up its previous (FIT) scheme and is now implementing this new series of auctions.

Three auctions planned for 2 July 2018

Following the successful pilot, Greece‘s energy regulator RAE will hold a total of three auctions on 2 July 2018. PV projects will be awarded in the following two size categories: between 500 KW and 1 MW and between 1 MW and 20 MW. Only one category was created for wind energy, which applies for projects between 3 MW and 50 MW.

RAE announced that the planned overall capacities of 300 MW per energy type will be divided up as follows: a maximum of 70 MW of PV capacity may be awarded to the first category and up to 230 MW to the second, while no more than 300 MW in total shall be assigned to wind projects.

Smaller projects are handled through net metering scheme

Projects can be entered until 5 June 2018. Any projects smaller than 500 KW do not fall under the scheme suggested by the EU, as every country is free to implement individual methods for this category. Greece handles these projects through a net metering scheme.

Conditions apply for all tenders

There are a few conditions which will apply to all tenders. First of all, the tender needs to generate at least 75% of PV capacity more than the amount it was awarded. Secondly, a bidding cap was defined for each category, which is €85 per MWh, €80 per MWh and €90 per MWh respectively. Lastly, all projects will have to be finished and connected to the grid within a set timeframe, which is 12 months for projects up to 1 MW, 15 months for projects up to 5 MW and 18 months for PV projects of more than 5 MW. An additional six months will be granted if a project of more than 1 MW needs to build a new substation.