NEW YORK – The Eastern Mediterranean Business Culture Alliance (EMBCA), in Association with AHEPA's Cultural Commission, presented the informative Hellenic Energy Independence Forum on November 15. EMBCA Founder and President Lou Katsos gave the welcoming remarks at the event noting that the topic is most relevant in view of geopolitical threats that Greece is now facing.

Costis Stambolis, President of the Institute of Energy of Southeast Europe (IENE) served as the panel moderator. The highly distinguished panel included William H. Laitinen, the Economic Counselor of the American Embassy in Athens; Dr. Sotirios Manolkidis, a member of the Board of the Regulatory Authority of Energy (RAE); Dr. Stratos Tavoulareas, the former Global Lead for Power, International Finance Corporation (IFC); Dr. Yianis Bassias, the former President and CEO of Hellenic Hydrocarbon Resources Management (HHRM); and Dr. Michael Karmis, Stonie Barker Professor at Virginia Tech in the Mining and and Minerals Department and the Director of the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research.

The panel discussed the opportunities to revitalize the Hellenic energy industry and overcome the current challenges in the coming years.

According to Katsos, “Energy independence in a way is an idealized status that at present can be only approximated by exploitation of a country's natural resources, including renewable and non-renewable resources. Although Greece is a small energy consumer its geographical position favors her in becoming a vital corridor for transporting gas and electricity from the East to the West.” 

He continued, “Of note is that Greece is trending towards becoming one of the EU hubs for US LNG exports at a time when sustainable development is a fundamental prerequisite for economic growth, ‘Green Lignite’ by using Carbon Capture technologies (CCUS) and hydrocarbon exploration are important elements of the energy mix of the Hellenic economy. Application of new technologies on these could drastically change the Hellenic energy security and supply program and contribute to a smooth transition to new low-carbon footprint energy sources. As we know a reduction of gas emissions is essentially related to reduction of carbon generation, which requires careful financial and technical management of the lignite and oil transition period to geothermal, solar, wind, hydrogen, and other energy sources.”

More information is available online: https://embca.com.

The panel discussion is available on EMBCA’s YouTube channel.