ESD implementation in Greece

Transcription

1 May 2011 ESD implementation in Greece Introduction: The legal transposition of the 2006/32/EC Directive in Greece, was performed by the recently enacted Law 3855/2010, of June L3855/2010 on Measures to improve energy efficiency in end use, energy services and other provisions, sets the national indicative target for energy saving until 2016 and describes the administrative and monitoring procedures as well as the energy efficient measures, in order to achieve the targeted savings. Additionally, it sets the framework for the establishment of the ESCO market in Greece through Energy Performance Contracts, the obligations of the energy providers for energy services and a set of initiatives especially for the public sector. Moreover, the development of the energy services market will create conditions for more competitive and efficient market environment. The responsibility for the management and supervision of all the regulatory procedures and of the national indicative target on Energy Saving, is of the Ministry of Environment Energy and Climate Change. Legal context L.3855/10, after a long administrative assessment period and the associated public consultation phase for one month (starting February 2010), was finalised and finally approved by the parliament and published in the Official Gazette on June the 23 rd. The new law sets for the first time the framework for the establishment and operation of Energy Service Companies in Greece, while the obligations of the

2 energy providers are also clarified in relation to the provision of energy services, statistical data, as well as information towards the consumers for their energy behaviour. This Law, also tackles any remaining issues concerning the provisions of the ESD related to the public sector and the energy audits (other Ministerial Decrees or National Laws had partially fulfil the obligations from the ESD) and a specific article (art18) highlights the issues related with green public procurement and that a National Plan for GPP will be presented in the next 18 months (until the end of 2012). However, the full implementation of the provisions of the L.3855/10 foresees the finalisation of several Ministerial Decrees that are essential for the specification of obligations, methodologies, tools and other mechanisms in relation to the targets and aims of L.3855/10. In this context, already 2 Ministerial Decrees have been finalised and are to be signed and one more is expected to be finalised in the period until June It should be highlighted that all the MDs have undergone a public consultation phase and where accordingly revised after the comments received by the stakeholders. The relevant Ministerial Decrees are the following: Decree on the methodology and framework for the assessment and monitoring of the national indicative target for Energy Saving at end-use, the energy content of fuels and a list of indicative eligible measures for energy efficiency improvement Decree on the obligations of the energy providers, operators and companies and the creation of the relevant information systems for the registry of bodies and the energy consumption data Decree on the establishment of an ESCO registry, the requirements and obligations of ESCOs, code of conduct and any other issue in relation to the energy service market through the use of Energy Performance Contracting Moreover, the inter-ministerial committee on GPP was established in autumn 2010 and from May 2011, a relevant office responsible for GPP monitoring was created at the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC) 2

3 Status of the implementation As mentioned before Greece has reached to a full transposition of the ESD obligations with the national law 3855/10, under the name Measures for the improvement of energy efficiency at end-use, energy services and other issues, which deals with all the provisions set by the ESD. However, some secondary legislative actions (MDs) are still pending in order to implement all the provisions set by this Law. The following table identifies the ESD articles covered by the abovementioned national law: Table ESD Article Article 4 L.3855/10 Article Article 4 Article 6 Article 5 Article 4(par4), Article 5 (par2) Article 8 Article 18. Article 7, Article 6 & 11 Article 9 Article 6, par2b Article 11 Article 7 Article 12 Article 8 & 12 Article 10,14 Article 9 Article 6, 9, 12 Article 10 Article 13 Article 11 Article 6 Article 13 Article 15 Article 14 Article 6 Moreover, at the proposed national law: Article 5, describes the general context for the methodology for the measurement of the national indicative target for energy saving Article 7, nominated the relevant responsible bodies for the monitoring of the national indicative target 3

4 Article 8, in relation to the measures for the public sector, describes specific measures. Article 9, describes the procedure and the information that the energy providers should provide to their customers, as well as the information that they must provide to the Ministry and the associated penalties for the cases of nonconformity. Article 11, 12, reveal the intention to develop incentives for the market actors upon providing information, advices, consultancy to the end users for energy efficiency improvement actions. Article 14, presents with detail the issues related with the registry for the energy audits, the associated issues with the law 3661/2008 for the energy performance of the buildings. Article 15, describes the associated measures that are foreseen and established for providing to the end users, individual meters for monitoring their consumption. Furthermore are mentioned the detailed data that should be given to them through their energy bills in order to achieve energy savings and better evaluation of their energy behaviour. Article 10,16,17, establish the framework for the operation of ESCO in Greece, the procedure to be included in the relevant registry and the contents of an Energy Performance Contract. Additional efforts Several programmes have been already either concluded, begin or announced in the framework of achieving the national indicative target for energy saving. Namely, a first subsidy programme for decommissioning old air-conditioning split units with new energy efficient ones (at least A class and with inverter technology), initiated by the Ministry of Development, was finished in the summer of 2009 (had a duration of 3 months), where 141,323 old units where recycled and substituted by new energy efficient ones. Also a small scale programme for retiring old private own-cars, with some fiscal incentives (additional fiscal benefits if new efficient cars were bought) was running during the autumn of 2009, resulting to the decommissioning of about 75,000 old cars. In the same framework, the Ministry of Development in cooperation with the Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece and CRES has developed the 4

5 Exoikonomo Program, aiming at supporting public authorities to introduce a sustainable development plan. The program is co-financed by the EU in the framework of the National Strategic Reference Framework. This programme provides a 70% subsidy for energy investments at local level in three different pillars (municipal buildings, transportation and mobility plans, outdoor lighting and infrastructure) of an overall 100M budget (72M the foreseen grants). This programme as stated before is addressed to the local municipalities (of population more than 10,000 inhabitants), while accordingly to the magnitude of the municipality in levels of registered inhabitants, different set and categories of measures are mandatory for each project proposal to be evaluated and approved. However, this programme is still at the evaluation phase of the proposals from the eligible municipalities and the implementation of the relevant approved actions is expected to begin late Overall, this programme aims at improving conditions for energy efficiency at local level, promoting demonstration activities that are directly applicable and also increasing the awareness of local administrators on issues of energy conservation, protection and sustainable management of urban environment. Another National Programme for Energy retrofitting of old buildings was also announced on 2010, and after some final technical and administrative changes and corrections was initiated in the beginning of 2011 and is open for petitions until May 2011 (or extended until the absorption of the dedicated budget per prefecture). This programme under the name exoikonomo kat oiko (translation: saving at home), co-funded by ERDF, comprises an economic stimulus package that provides financing for actions improving energy efficiency and renewable energy use in buildings in the domestic sector. It is aimed at homeowners whose buildings have been built before 1980 (ie before application of the building thermal code and thus, they are thermally unprotected) and are of low-energy category. It provides incentives (subsidies and/or loans) for beneficiaries to make the most important interventions to improve the energy efficiency of their home and sets an obligation that an energy audit should be performed before and after the EE interventions (proving the improvement of the building in relation to its energy classification). The Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change has set a target of approximately EE interventions at 100,000 households. 5

6 However, the most innovative framework national programme, announced by the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change in the end of 2010, in energy efficiency issues is ktizo to mellon (translation: building the future), which targets through a series of technical platforms and agreements with stakeholders, professional associations and companies/retailers to promote energy efficient products in the building sector. In specific, within the programme discounts of 25 to 30%, in prices of EE materials and work on energy-proofing of buildings, based on voluntary agreements between firms operating in the building sector, is on average aimed. Finally, pilot programmes for the initiation of EPC projects in public buildings are under-development and are sought to be further addressed also in the household sector through framework agreements with utilities. CRES is appointed as the management body for the development, implementation and monitoring of the last two projects (building the future and EPC in public buildings), as well as for the programme aimed at the municipalities. Future planning From legislative side, is still pending the official approval and release of some MDs that are important for implementing the measures and targets addressed in the L3855/10. Additionally, the monitoring and evaluation of national programmes in the area of pilot actions that haven t before developed in Greece (ESCO market, EPC in public buildings, voluntary agreements) is a key issue as it will allow to quantify and assess contribution and potential of these mechanisms towards the national targets. Registries, databases and information systems for stakeholders, projects and energy data are also expected to be in place during the next period, aiming to assist not only to the monitoring but also to disseminate and promote market mechanisms and energy services to the public. Lastly the 2nd National Energy Efficiency Action Plan is planned to be presented timely (end June 2011), whereas are going to be described the savings achieved in relation to the intermediate target, the new matrix of energy saving measures, as well as the estimated savings per measure towards the 2016 target. 6

7 Relevant information More information regarding the situation in Greece can be found at the following websites: Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change: 1 st National Energy Efficiency Action Plan: National programme exoikonomo kat oikon for households: National programme EXOIKONOMO for municipalities (gr: closed): National programme for changing old air conditioning untis (gr: ended): 7