Following the enactment of Law 4685/2020 in May 2020, which introduced significant amendments, among others, in the first licensing step of the RES and CCHP projects by substituting the Production License with the Producer Certificate, the Ministerial Decision no. 114746/2020 was issued on the 1st of December 2020, under which the Regulation for the Producer Certificate entered into force.
The purpose of the Regulation is to specify the rules governing the Producer Certificate, including the following key provisions:
* Detailed provisions regarding a conflict resolution scheme, in cases of territorial overlaps between projects. The Regulation sets a specific time framework for the amicable settlement of disputes that may arise during the submission of applications for the issuance of the Producer Certificate in relation to these overlapping areas. It also specifies the stages in which the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) conducts a project evaluation and selection, in the event the involved parties fail to reach a settlement including provisions related tο the proof of ownership of the property on which the projects will be installed.
* Detailed description of the procedures and documentation related to the renewal, modification, unification or the division of the Certificates and the replacement of all or part of the RES station’s equipment (repowering) under strict restrictions.
* Special provisions for the issuance of a Certificate for Special Projects (as those defined by Law 4685/2020). In such cases, an increased scrutiny is required, including the assessment of the energy efficiency and the financial viability of Special Projects.
* Detailed provisions regarding the exercise of the right of the owner or usufructuary of the property for which a Certificate for the installation of a photovoltaic station has been issued, to challenge the right of the Certificate holder to use the land he purports to install the project in question. The owner or usufructuary, can – within certain deadlines- claim that his right to property has been infringed, by submitting an application for the issuance of a Producer Certificate under its own name or under the name of its lessee for the same area.
* Operational and procedural details for the submission of the applications through the newly established on-line platform (Electronic Register).
Overall, the strict deadlines set by the Producer Certificate Regulation for the application processing in combination with the creation of the Electronic Register aim to accelerate the licensing procedure and foster the promotion of RES projects, which is the main goal of Law 4685/2020.
Edited by Sotirchou Dafni