Greece lining up legislation to enable offshore wind

WindEurope said that, given the characteristics of Greek waters, it is likely it will mostly be floating offshore wind.

Greece’s National Energy and Climate Plan envisages 7 GW of wind energy in the country by 2030. Currently Greece has 4 GW of installed, all onshore, covering 12% of its electricity demand.

But the potential for wind energy in Greece is much bigger, especially for offshore wind. The wind resource is good and offshore wind could help islands gain energy autonomy.

In 2020, the Greek Government announced it was considering a new legislative framework for the development of offshore wind. The Greek wind energy association, ELETAEN, is now running a consultation for this new framework, open to any interested party until 1 February 2021.

Wind Europe said that for the new framework to be most effective, it should consider defining an ambitious pipeline of projects and a schedule of auctions, ensuring stable revenues for projects via contracts for difference, investigating and allocating sites efficiently and offering financing for new infrastructure.