The implementation of the Greek State’s project ‘Helios’ regarding energy production from renewable energy sources (RES), in particular by photovoltaic systems, and its transfer to other European Union Member States finds its legal basis in Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. The above Directive establishes mechanisms of cooperation between Member States for the achievement of the mandatory target of a 20% share of energy from renewable sources in overall European Union energy consumption by 2020, as well as of the individual targets for each Member State.
Specifically, Directive 2009/28/EC provides for three cooperation methods through the virtual transmission of energy by which mutually beneficial frameworks can be agreed to allow Member States to achieve their national RES targets:
*Statistical transfer: Pursuant to art. 6 of the Directive, Member States may agree on and may make arrangements for the statistical transfer of a specified amount of energy from renewable sources from one Member State to another Member State. The transferred quantity shall be deducted from the amount of energy from renewable sources that is taken into account in measuring compliance by the Member State making the transfer and added to the amount of energy from renewable sources that is taken into account in measuring compliance by another Member State accepting the transfer.
*Joint projects: According to art. 7 of the Directive, two or more Member States may cooperate on all types of joint projects relating to the production of energy from renewable energy sources. That cooperation may involve private operators. In that case Member States shall notify the Commission about the proportion or amount of the renewable energy produced by the joint project in the territory of one Member State and specify the proportion or amount of energy produced from the installation which is to be regarded as counting towards the national overall target of another Member State.
*Joint support schemes: By the third method of cooperation two or more Member States may decide, on a voluntary basis, to join or partly coordinate their national support schemes as prescribed by art. 11 of the Directive. In such cases, a certain amount of energy from renewable sources produced in the territory of one participating Member State may count towards the national overall target of another participating Member State if the Member States concerned make a statistical transfer of specified amounts of energy from renewable sources from one Member State to another Member State as described above, or set up a distribution rule agreed by participating Member States that allocates amounts of energy from renewable sources between the participating Member States.
According to the Directive, Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 5 December 2010. Although the deadline for transposition has already passed, Greece has so far transposed into national law only parts of the Directive by Law 3851/2010, whereas the draft law for the complete harmonization of national law with Directive 2009/28/EC is currently placed in public consultation. Moreover, as regards the realization of ‘Helios’ project the Greek State seeks already to appoint legal advisors for the provision of specialized services as regards, inter alia, the implementation of the above options for the statistical transfer of energy.
The possibility for the physical transfer of energy via four alternative international network routes is also examined. According to data provided in the presentation of the project to the European Parliament in November 2011, the physical export of energy through existing and new networks can not exceed 2-2.5 GW, while investments are required for the development of the transmission infrastructure and it is also essential to establish a uniform scheme for the transmission of energy through the different national networks.
Therefore, the prospect of combining one or more methods of the statistical transfer exclusively or along with the physical transfer of energy seems more feasible.
Edited by Tina Koutsopoulou