Potential for Further Development in RES

During a fruitful Virtual Discussion organized by the Hellenic Association for Energy Economics, on Wednesday, February 10, and coordinated by HAEE’s President, Mr. Spiros Papaefthimiou, the CEO and Chairman of BoD of DAPEEP, Mr. Yiannis Yiarentis, talked about the development potential of RES market in Greece, especially after the Target Model implementation and DAPEEP’s role in the electricity market of the country.

Mr. Yiarentis initially presented the institutional role of DAPEEP in the electricity market. The Operator is responsible for the issue of guarantees of origin, along with the payment of electricity producers from RES in Greece, highlighting that the current contracts operated by DAPEEP reach up to 15.000 and are expected to rise. He also noted that despite understaffing, DAPEEP will consist of a basic pillar for decarbonization, and the implementation of the ambitious targets set by the Energy and Climate National Plan (ESEK) regarding green transition. 

When asked about the new market operation based on the target model and the level of its maturity, Mr. Yiarentis underlined that we are still “in early age”. Although the legal and regulatory framework is in place, the market is not yet regulated by the rules of offer and demand. The efforts made by the Hellenic Energy Exchange are praiseworthy and the current problems are expected to be solved in the near future. Concerning RES’ role in the target model, he mentioned that they can be characterized as market maker, decreasing electricity prices, when supported by a credible predictions’ system.

Additionally, Mr. Yiarentis referred to ELAPE’s (RES Special Account) sustainability after the measures taken by the Ministry of Environment and Energy. Mr. Yiarentis focused on ELAPE’s complex structure, which in some cases presents competitive input and output sources. Here lies the need for a structural change of ELAPE with a long-term strategy, so it can always be balanced, without the need for emergency interventions. He also stressed that all actors of the electricity market should be on the same side, aiming at a robust market.

Mr. Papaefthimiou asked whether DAPEEP would benefit from the development of an own model of production predictions for ELAPE’s sustainability, with Mr. Yiarentis answering that DAPEEP aims at reducing the cost of divergences in any way, since inaccurate predictions cause economic weight. To this direction, the Operator wants to cooperate with specialized international Houses, and develop its own prediction systems, making use of the experience of its executives. He also characterized DAPEEP’s support to other competitive aggregators as unrealistic.

Mr. Yiarentis highlighted that public actors need to be flexible, so as to deal with the problem of understaffing and overcome various challenges, as in the case of the recent law for PPC SA. He brought up the digitalization procedures performed by DAPEEP for better serving and informing the RES producers, mentioning the example of reducing delays in signing contracts. Finally, answering the question regarding the overdue amounts by PPC and IPTO, DAPEEP’s CEO noted that the Regulatory Authority of Energy and the Ministry of Environment and Energy are updated in a monthly basis.