Τhe Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change announced through her speech on green development, on March 10th 2010, that the Ministry’s primary target is the acceleration of licensing procedures for projects on Renewable Energy Sources (R.E.S.), which is actually the spirit of all recent amendments on relevant legislation.
The new Greek Development Law prepared by the Ministry of Economy provides a subsidy for domestic investments on acquisition of equipment for R.E.S.. The abovementioned law is expected on early May and any further delay will be a disincentive for the future of investments on R.E.S.
The Minister commented on the difficulties faced by the investors of wind parks due to the subjection of more than a quarter of the Greek region to the Natura protection system. It was clarified that the subjection to the above system shall not in any case be an obstacle on the expansion of R.E.S. projects. Investors, while taking into account the environmental protection, have the possibility to continue their operational attempts on the “fringes” of the protected areas. It is important however to have a precise legal definition of the term fringes in order to avoid future legal disputes and delays.
Finally, the deposition before the Greek Parliament of the Bill for the determination of the selling prices of electric energy produced by photovoltaic systems is expected this week with the hope that it will not reinforce the destabilization of investments in the sector. A fall in prices may cause discouragement of investors while Greek rates of photovoltaic system establishment are very low compared to other European countries. However, a counterpart to an eventual reduce of prices will be the increase of subsidies by the new Greek development law.