Seventeen offshore wind parks are under construction today in Europe, with an expected estimated power of 3.500 MW, whereas that form of “green” energy, draws the attention of the electricity market‘s largest companies worldwide. That trend should be reinforced with a framework that will support the investors’ interest. The assistance of 255 million euro by the E.U regarding the Recovery Plan for Growth together with the increased participation of the European Investment Bank, constitute positive steps to that direction.
In Greece, there are three applications for offshore wind parks pending before the Regulatory Authority for Energy, one in Marathon sea area and two in Thracian seas, with total power of 1300 MW. The cost for creating such an investment is estimated around 1, 85 billion euro for a park of total power of 500 MW.
The existing legal framework (Law 3299/2004 “Motives for private investment for growth”) regulates financial aid for investment plans for producing electricity by renewable energy sources such as wind, in the following alternative forms:
- grant for part of the cost
- leasing grant for the partial coverage of the equipment cost
- tax exemption (of undistributed profits, for 10 years since the operation)
- grant for part of the labour cost
In order to reinforce the increasing interest, a new legal frame work is expected to be issued, according to the statement of the Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change, in order to accelerate the approval procedure for wind parks as well as to reduce the bureaucracy and overregulation.