Greek Ministry of Energy is currently analyzing domestic renewable energy market in order to decide whether to hold RES auctions in June or July as it was originally planned, or to postpone them for the last quarter of the year. The Ministry would rather hold on to the original plan, as it wants to avoid further pushbacks caused by the coronavirus outbreak. However, due to extended lockdown measures, a detailed reexamination of market is needed, as project maturation in the RES sector has been impacted by the pandemic.
Last week, Greek authorities extended the deadlines for the completion of renewable energy projects. Therefore, renewable energy and combined heat and power (CHP) projects whose completion deadline and network connection agreements expire before 30 June will be granted a six-months extension. For those expiring in the second half of the year, the deadline has been extended by additional four months. There is also a 30 September deadline for the start of operation of not-yet-operational RES and CHP power plants with power purchase agreements (PPA) signed before 31 December 2015.
The mixed RES auction held on 2 April produced a record-low bid of 49.11 euros/MWh, submitted by PPC Renewables for a 200 MW solar power plant in Kozani in northern Greece. A total of five major RES projects, four solar power plants and one wind farm, secured tariffs at the auction. The auction’s average bidding price was 51.59 euros/MWh, which is significantly lower compared to previous auctions.
