ATHENS – The government initiatives for accelerating the green transition and for increasing the penetration of renewables (RES) were presented by Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas in a meeting with the Executive Vice President of the European Commission and Competent Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, held on Sunday.

Skrekas pointed out that in the last three years, new RES projects are being connected to the electricity system at record rates, emphasising that from 2019 until the end of 2022 up to 5 GW of new projects will be connected to the grid. As he said, at these rates, by 2026 Greece will have achieved its strategic targets for 2030, which call for at least 70 pct coverage of electricity consumption by RES. He said that the draft law for the simplification of the licensing process of new RES projects, which will be voted on by parliament within the week, will further contribute to the acceleration of the green transition and to the energy competitiveness of the country.

The minister made special reference to the government’s legislatives measures targeting the wholesale electricity market, with the establishment of a mechanism for recovering excess revenues earned by electricity providers, which has been incorporated in the same bill. Vestager described the new mechanism, by which high gas prices will be disconnected from electricity prices, as a great idea.