“In 2022 alone we have saved more than half a billion euros, because the increase in the energy production of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) has allowed us to import less natural gas, compared to previous years.”
This is what the Minister of Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas points out in his statements to the Athens-Macedonian Agency, on the occasion of the upcoming tenders for new units of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) decided by the ministry, as well as the upgrading of the goals for the participation of RES in the energy balance until 2030.
“Our government’s unchanging goal, the minister emphasizes, remains the Green Transition, which we are implementing despite the unprecedented difficulties caused by the economic war that Russia has declared in Europe, therefore also in Greece. We have already quadrupled the installations of Renewable Energy Sources last three years, with a double result: Firstly, to give impetus to the change of the energy production mix in favor of the Environment and secondly, to achieve significant savings in the citizens’ pockets.We believe in this policy that leads to the energy independence of the country, we implement it and we will let’s continue with determination”.
The Ministry of the Interior is proceeding with a barrage of tenders for renewable energy sources with a total capacity of 3,800 megawatts with the aim – among other things – of accelerating the transition from fossil fuels and mainly Russian natural gas.
The first tender for 1000 megawatts will take place in September and will be followed by a second tender within the year for 600 megawatts. The decision of Mr. Skrekas, which determined the specifications of the first tender, also establishes the timetable for the implementation of the following tender procedures, which is as follows:
-In 2022 there will be tenders for 1700 megawatts of wind and photovoltaic plants as well as 200 megawatts of wind, photovoltaic combined with energy storage.
– In 2023, tenders for 1400 megawatts will follow.
-In 2024 another 500 megawatts.
These units form a part of the investments required to achieve the 2030 targets in the first phase and the final goal of climate neutrality in 2050, as additional units are expected to be added outside of tenders. The goals as recently prescribed by Mr. Skrekas and will soon be reflected in the new energy plan are, the percentage of participation of RES in the electricity balance to increase from 42% in 2021 (which was the share of wind, photovoltaic, hydroelectric, etc. RES) to 50% in 2022, 62% in 2026 and more than 70% in 2030. This year, 24 gigawatts of renewables, another 2.5 gigawatts of offshore wind and 5 gigawatts of storage are scheduled to operate.
As the representatives of the RES sector point out, the big bet for achieving the goals, in addition to simplifying the licensing procedures with regulations such as those recently passed by the Parliament, is the upgrading of the networks in order to “fit” more units and to increase the ability to absorb “green” energy.
The tenders decided by the Ministry of Energy and implemented by RAE are based on the evaluation criterion of the lowest selling price of “green” energy in the network. The announcement sets the starting prices (which are the maximum prices) which for the September tender are set for photovoltaic plants at 54 Euro/MWh and for wind plants at 63 Euro/MWh. The starting prices are higher compared to the previous tender that took place in May 2021 (it was 53.86 Euro/MWh), due to the crisis that intervened, the lack of raw materials that led to an increase in the construction costs of RES but also mainly rise in interest rates. However, the average price in the 2021 tender was below 40 euros per megawatt hour (the minimum fell to 32.97 euros) and it is reasonable to expect that competition will push prices down in the September tender as well. It is worth noting that, by comparison, the prices of electricity in the Greek Stock Exchange recently are between 250 and 350 euros per megawatt hour, which means that the increase in the participation of RES in the market reduces the prices.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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