Chapter 17 Greece. IEA Wind 137

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1 Chapter 17 Greece 1.0 Introduction Greece is making profound institutional, regulatory, engineering, and funding efforts in order to meet the indicative target set by Directive 2001/77/EC. Among the aims of the Greek government is the substitution of expensive imported fuel, currently used for electricity production in a large part of the Greek territory, with energy supplied by exploiting the country s abundant wind potential. According to the most recent estimates, the gross consumption of electric power in 2010 will reach the level of 72 TWh for Greece. Currently, the main fuel source is domestically extracted low-calorific-value lignite, which accounted for 50.5% of the total energy needs in Oil, mainly used by the power plants on the islands not connected to the mainland s system, is estimated to have a share of 13%. Natural gas imported from Russia and Algeria in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) covered 22.5%. In the same year, large-scale hydroelectric plants were estimated to produce 4.8%. Lastly, wind energy, small hydro, biomass, and photovoltaics combined contributed 3.6%, whereas the net of imports-exports made up the remaining 5.6% (1). At present, the electricity sector operates within the framework set by law 2773/1999 Liberalisation of the Electricity Market- Regulation of energy policy issues and other provisions (Official Gazette A 286) enacted for the transposition of Directive 96/92/EC for the liberalization of the electricity market (OJ L27/ ). That basic law was revised by law 3175/2003 Exploitation of the geothermal potential, district heating and other provisions (Official Gazette A 207) and law 3426/2005 Precipitation of the liberalization process of the electricity market (Official Gazette A 304). Today, the RES deployment regime is governed primarily by law 3468/2006 Generation of electricity from renewable energy sources and through high-efficiency co-generation of electricity and heat and miscellaneous provisions (Official Gazette A 129). The text of the law and its circular D6/F1/oik.21691/ are posted on the Ministry of Development website ( The main actions of that serious legislative initiative are outlined below: Putting the national target for the share of RES on an official footing in the net domestic power consumption in the year 2010 at 20.1% and in the year 2020 at 29%; Taking initiatives in environmental permitting through the setting of strict deadlines within which approvals should be granted or consensus rendered by services and bodies involved in the interim stages of the overall licensing; Setting up of two intra-ministerial coordinating bodies, one on the level of secretaries general and the other made up of highechelon civil servants, aiming at the coordination of the licensing processes control and the provision of support and guidance to authorities involved therein; Introduction of a regime of strict followup procedures for the holders of generation authorizations, in order to keep them bound to their legal commitments and making provisions for getting rid of those profiteering from license trading; Diversification of the previous unique feed-in tariff regime chiefly on behalf of PV in order to boost investments in that sector which are lagging behind so far. The tariffs set by the law are revised every year by virtue of a decision taken by the Development Table 1 Key Statistics 2007: Greece Total installed wind generation 874 MW New wind generation installed 125 MW Total electrical output from wind 2,328 GWh Wind generation as % of national electric demand 2.5% Target: 3,370 MW IEA Wind 137

2 National Activities Minister on the basis of the weighted average increases of the incumbent utility s bills whereas after the full liberalization of the electricity market the revisions shall take place at 80% of the consumer price index; Enactment of provisions at variance with the economic development law 3299/2004 (Official Gazette A 261) in order to make lawful the transfer to the responsible power transmission operator of the fixed assets of companies receiving public aid for investment schemes corresponding to the cost of grid extension works, connecting power generation plants to the grids even before the lapse of the five-year period generally provided for in the above law; Establishing of the right to install offshore wind farms following the successful precedent of similar projects in the Northern Sea; Licensing of hybrid stations without a prior tendering procedure and direct indexing of the energy tariff regime applicable to hybrid stations that will be installed in island systems not connected the mainland s interconnected system chiefly to the avoided cost of conventional plants whose operation is thereby supplanted to ensure the economic viability of the said stations; Completion of the package of efforts aimed at bringing national laws into line with the requirements set forth in article 5 par. 5 of Directive 2001/77/EC by setting up a system for issuing warranties of origin for renewable energy; Improvement of electricity sale terms with the aim of facilitating bank financing of the projects. More specifically, the initial 10-year validity period of the contracts may be extended by an equal period simply upon a producer s unilateral declaration to the responsible operator; Redrafting and legislative consolidation of the levy imposed on the gross proceeds from the sale of renewable energy (with the exception of photovoltaics) in favor of local governments, at 3% in lieu of the previous 2%; Increase of the limit of installed capacity up to which installation and production authorization, and operating permits are not required; Lifting of the 50-MW limit of installed capacity above which the provisions of article 35 of Law 2773/1999 did not grant priority to RES plants by load dispatch; Imposition of mandatory measurements of RES potential by a certified body. Table 2 provides the feed-in tariff for the wind energy. The list of prices is based on the price in /MWh of the electric energy absorbed by the grid for interconnected as well as non-interconnected islands. 2.0 Progress Toward National Objectives Directive 2001/77/EC, On the Promotion of Electricity Produced from Renewable Energy Sources in the Internal Electricity Market, in its annex sets an indicative target for Greece to cover a part of its gross national electricity consumption by 2010 from RES equal to 20.1%, with the contribution of large-scale hydroelectric plants included. This target is also compatible with the international commitments of Greece resulting from the Kyoto Protocol. Based on the expected electricity consumption in 2010, the goal is set for production of electric power from RES on the order of 14,450 GWh (including large-scale hydro-electric plants) in In order to meet these goals, the installed capacity of wind farms should reach the level of 3,193 MW and the corresponding energy generated should be on the order of 8,100 GWh. In 2007, the installed capacity of the wind turbines reached 874 MW, showing an increase over the previous year of 17%. In nine separate projects a total of 67 wind energy conversion systems with an installed capacity of approximately 125 MW were connected to the electricity supply network. The current estimation of wind energy production in 2010 ranges between 2,040 MW (conservative scenario) and 3,193 MW (optimistic scenario) (1). The development of the wind energy within the last 10 years is shown in Figure 1, which depicts the total installed capacity per year. The energy produced from wind turbines during 2007 was approximately 2,328 GWh. The energy produced in the last five years has been: ,990 GWh, ,266 GWh, ,127 GWh, ,021 GWh, and GWh. Figure 2 shows the electricity produced from wind turbines during the past ten years Annual Report

3 Greece Table 2 Energy Tariff Type of electric energy production Interconnected Non-interconnected islands Wind onshore Wind offshore Figure 1 Cumulative installed wind capacity in Greece. Figure 2 Electricity produced from wind turbines in Greece. IEA Wind 139

4 National Activities 3.0 Benefits to National Economy 3.1 Market characteristics Interest is increasing, mainly among construction companies and individual investors, in projects related to wind energy. Wind energy deployment has become a challenging area for development all over the country, especially in areas of poor infrastructure, where some of the most promising sites for wind energy development can be found. Although manufacturing of wind turbines has not been established in Greece, there is considerable domestic added value, especially with regard to the infrastructure works, for example, grid strengthening, tower manufacturing, road and foundation construction, civil engineering works, and so on. In addition, new jobs are created related to the maintenance and operation of the wind farms in mainly underdeveloped areas. At present, an expanding network of highly experienced engineering firms has been created, which is currently working on all phases of the development of new wind energy projects. Thus, wind energy is gradually becoming a considerable player contributing to the development of the country. The distribution of installed wind farms all over the country is depicted in Figure Industrial development and operational experience No significant manufacturing developments occurred in 2007 apart from the continuing involvement of the Greek steel industry in wind turbine tower manufacturing. The average capacity of the wind turbines installed in 2007 was 1,850 kw, while the average capacity of all the wind turbines operating in the country was 781 kw (Figure 4). The market share per manufacturer is depicted in Figures 5 and 6. Wind farm malfunctions that have been reported up to now are mainly related to gearbox failure and lightning strikes. No major events Figure 3 Installed wind farms distribution in Greece Annual Report

5 Greece Figure 4 Average capacity of the wind turbines installed in 2007 and operating in Greece. Figure 5 Market-share of wind turbine manufacturers (as a percentage of wind turbines installed). Figure 6 Market-share of wind turbine manufacturers (as a percentage of capacity installed). IEA Wind 141

6 National Activities leading to extensive wind farm outages have been reported. 3.3 Economic details The total cost of wind power projects depends on the wind turbine type, size, and accessibility of the project. This cost varies between 1,000 and 1,200 /kw and is mainly influenced by international market prices and interconnection costs. The cost of generated wind power could be assumed to be between and /kwh, depending on the site and project cost. The typical interest rate for financing wind energy projects is 7% to 8%. The power generation system in Greece is divided into two categories: the so-called interconnected system of the mainland and the autonomous power plants of the islands. In the liberalized electricity market, as well as before, a single price exists in both systems, depending on the identity of the consumer and the voltage class. This price list concerns the tariffs of electricity purchased since August 2006 by the Hellenic Transmission System Operator according to the law 2244/94; the decision of the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology numbered Δ6Φ1/ΟΙΚ.8295/ (ΦΕΚ 385/ ); and law 2773/99. This electricity either is produced by independent producers or is the surplus of auto-producers and comes from either RES or CHP. There is no capacity charge on purchases from producers in non-interconnected islands. 4.0 National Incentive Programs Financial support for wind energy projects is provided by the state in the framework of the Operational Program for Competitiveness (OPC) and the Law for Development 3299/04. The OPC raises resources from the Third Community Support Framework to provide public aid to renewable energy sources, energy saving, substitution, and other energy-related actions. During 2007, the above-mentioned program was in action, however there was no announcement of new projects. The already approved projects within OPC will be finalized until the end of 2008, which is the end-year of the Third Framework Programme. Additionally, financial support for wind energy investments is foreseen through the Law for Development 3299/2004, which provides grants for up to 40% of the total investment. In January 2008, the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance announced a new program entitled National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), The NSDP raises resources from the Fourth Framework Programme to reinforce the investment activities of the private sector and strengthen the productive potential of the country. 5.0 R, D&D Activities The Ministry for Development promotes all R&D activities in the country, including applied and basic R&D as well as demonstration projects. Key areas of R&D in the field of wind energy in the country are wind assessment and characterization, standards and certification, wind turbine development, aerodynamics, structural loads, blade development, noise, power quality, wind desalination, and autonomous power system integration. There is limited activity in Greece concerning offshore deployment. 5.1 Activities of CRES CRES is the national organization for the promotion of renewable energy in Greece. It is mainly involved in applied R&D in the fields of aerodynamics, structural loads, noise, power quality, variable speed, wind desalination, standards and certification, wind assessment, and integration. CRES has developed and operates its Laboratory for Wind Turbine Testing, which has been accredited under the terms of ISO/ IEC 17025:2000. Several research projects were running at CRES during 2007, co-funded by the European Commission (EC) and the Greek Secretariat for Research and Technology. These research projects had the following goals: Characterizing the main features of complex or mountainous sites and identifying the crucial parameters affecting both the power performance and the loading of different types of wind turbines operating in such environments Developing wind turbines for installation in hostile environments Improving the damping characteristics of wind turbine blades Developing new techniques for power quality measurement and assessment Increasing understanding of wind turbine standardization procedures Annual Report

7 Greece Developing blade material testing techniques within the in-house experimental facility Understanding generic aerodynamic performance of wind turbine blades through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques Developing cost-effective, micrositing techniques for complex terrain topographies. The Laboratory for Wind Turbine Testing of CRES was granted funding for a project entitled Development of Infrastructures and Laboratory Support of CRES. This project is in the framework of Measure 4.2, Action 4.2.2, of the Competitiveness operational program, which aims at upgrading the laboratory s equipment, infrastructure, and services. More analytically, the project involves the optimization and integration of equipment and services related to power quality measurements, load measurements, wind speed measurements, and so on. One of the most significant upgrades made under this project was the purchase of a state-of-the-art LIDAR system for wind speed measurements up to 150 m high. CRES is responsible for the development of the New Wind Map of Greece, which aims at the exploitation of country s wind potential and at the promotion of wind energy technology through new investments. The work involves the installation of 40 new masts. The Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) has deligated the development of the new wind map to CRES. The project will be completed at the end of CRES also participates in the project entitled Floating, Autonomous, Ecological and Effective Desalination Unit which is co-financed by Measure 4.5, Action of the Competitiveness operational program. The project involves the design and development of an autonomous floating wind powered reverse osmosis unit (RO) for seawater desalination. The system mainly consists of a 30-kW wind generator, an RO unit of 80 m 3 /day potable water capacity, a battery bank, and the control system. 5.2 University research Basic R&D on wind energy is mainly performed at the country s technical universities. The Fluids Department of the of Mechanical Engineering school of The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), is active in the fields of wind modeling, rotor aerodynamics and aeroelasticity, load calculation, fatigue analysis, noise, and wind farm design. In 2007, NTUA, in collaboration with CRES, developed a new eigenvalue stability tool for the analysis of the complete wind turbine in closed loop operation (i.e. including the control loop). NTUA also participated in the EC-funded project UPWIND which is aimed at developing the computational framework for the design of future large-scale wind turbine applications (beyond the current 5-MW scale). Within this project, NTUA developed and tested new aeroelastic tools capable of treating the large deflections anticipated in future largescale highly flexible blades. New load control techniques such as a trailing edge flap have also been tested in the context of advanced 3-D aerodynamic modeling using the in-house free wake code GENUVP. In 2007, the Electric Power Division of NTUA continued its research activities on renewable and distributed energy resources, focusing on several aspects of their technologies and grid integration issues. Specific research areas include the following: Microgrids with high penetration from distributed energy resources, concentrating on simulation algorithms and on control and communication technologies Investigation of wind power integration potential to the Greek interconnected power system and development of grid code recommendations Application of pumped storage in order to increase wind penetration levels in isolated island grids Investigation of the PV penetration potential in isolated island grids Technical issues and feasibility studies for the interconnection of isolated island grids to the mainland power system Advanced short-term wind power forecasting functions for operational planning using numerical weather predictions and advanced artificial intelligence techniques Power quality analysis of wind turbines and wind farms, with a particular emphasis on harmonic emissions IEA Wind 143

8 National Activities Design of electrical generators and converters for small wind turbine applications, with a particular focus on permanent magnet synchronous generators Research on small stand-alone systems fed by renewable energy sources, including the design of the electrical and control systems for completely autonomous, wind-driven desalination systems Development of laboratory infrastructure for renewable and distributed energy systems, and participation in relevant laboratory and pre-standardization activity networks. Since 1990, the Applied Mechanics Section of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras (UP), has focused on educational and R&D activities involving composite materials and structures. Emphasis is given to anisotropic material property characterization, structural design, and dynamics of composite rotor blades of wind turbines. Experience has been acquired by participating in several national and EC-funded research projects. UP is the Task Group leader in the EC-funded research project OPTIMAT BLADES, an investigation of blade material behavior under complex stress states in which the effect of multi-axial static and cyclic loading on strength and life of composite laminates is assessed. Results are available in the form of design guidelines for rotor blade manufacturers, amongst others. Other research activities of the Applied Mechanics Section are: (a) development of finite element formulations and dedicated code accounting for selective non-linear lamina behavior, e.g. in shear, in the laminate, in order to model property degradation due to damage accumulation so as to predict the life of large rotor blades under spectrum loading; (b) probabilistic methods in the design of composite structures; (c) residual strength and fatigue damage characterization of composite materials using wave propagation techniques; (d) smart composites and structures; and (e) structural damping, passive, and active vibration control. technology understanding through cooperative activities and information exchange on R&D topics of common interest with the other member countries. Extra emphasis has been given through the years, especially at NTUA and CRES, to the development of aerodynamic models of wind turbines. This activity is supported by the involvement in the activities of Annex 20, HAWT aerodynamics and models from Wind Tunnel Measurements. 6.0 The Next Term The existing legal framework was reviewed in 2005 and a new law for the promotion of renewable energy sources and especially wind energy took effect in mid The new law aims to accelerate the licensing procedures as well as to alleviate major bureaucratic bottlenecks. The promotion of national land planning currently underway is expected to further facilitate investments in renewable energy systems. However, reaching the targets set for 2010 is still uncertain unless additional measures and policies- both institutional and technological- are undertaken. A critical point for the achievement of the targets is the completion of the extensive projects destined to boost transmission capacity of the grids in the areas of great interest for wind energy deployment (Eastern Macedonia-Thrace, South-eastern Peloponnese, and Euboea). The institutional measures are expected to be implemented in the new legal framework, while technological actions such as the interconnection of the Northeastern Cyclades islands complex with the interconnected system are still to be decided and implemented. References: (1) 4th National Report Regarding the Penetration Level of Renewable Energy Sources Up to Year 2010 (October 2007). Authors: Kyriakos Rossis, Eftihia Tzen, and Pantelis Vionis; CRES, Greece. 5.3 Participation in IEA Wind tasks Greece participates in Tasks 11 and 20. The participation in Task 11, Base Technology Information Exchange, is promoting wind turbine Annual Report