Offshore wind farms: Provisions up for consultation

The environment and energy ministry on Thursday unveiled a draft bill that will legislate for the development of offshore wind parks with a capacity of 2 Gigawatts by 2030, for a period of public consultation. Consultation will last for just six days.

Under the bill, the current body in charge of exploration for hydrocarbons will be responsible for deciding the location of these wind parks, which will be developed via a tender process favouring the lowest bidder, with the bill outlining the minimum requirements for participation by interested parties. It also makes Independent Power Transmission Operator-IPTO responsible for linking up the wind parks with the national electricity grid, with the cost recovered from the system usage charges.

The selection process will be carried out by the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) with the announcement of the submission of tenders for the granting of operational aid, with the criterion of the lowest tender price for electricity generated. Offshore wind farms that will secure a tender will enter into relevant contracts valid for 20 years. The projects must be implemented within six years. However, the snag is that the new provisions do not clarify the landscape regarding the status of old licenses and applications.

Investment alliances for the development of offshore wind parks

In anticipation of the regulations, many international energy giants, in partnership with Greek companies, are preparing for when the bill comes into effect. Thus, TERNA Energy has positioned itself in the offshore wind farm market, in a joint venture with Ocean Winds (a joint venture of the companies EDP Renewables and Engie), Mytilineos has allied itself with the Danish Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP), Motor Oil has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Masdar, recentlyH ELPE announced an alliance with RWE, Intrakat with Parkwind, but also two Greek companies that hold old licenses, Elica and RF Energy entered into a joint venture for the development of marine parks. Also, very close to announcements is PPC with a European company  (information speaks of a French group), but also the American firm Quantum Energy Partners (already developing onshore RES projects with the Greek interests ENTEKA) is turning its eyes to the Greek seas, like many other international energy “players”.