Feed-in tariff I
Updated: 07.01.2019
Author: Georgios Maroulis
In Greece, renewable electricity generation was mainly promoted through a guaranteed feed-in tariff by the end of 2015. Law No. 3468/2006 differentiates between different renewable electricity producers according to whether or not they are located on a Greek island i.e. whether or not they are connected to the mainland grid. The support scheme was closed on 31 December 2015, however there are certain transitional provisions.
Eligible technologies
All renewable electricity generation technologies are eligible.
| Wind energy | Eligible (art. 13 Law No. 3468/2006). |
|---|---|
| Solar energy | Eligible (art. 14 Law No. 3468/2006). |
| Geothermal energy | Eligible (art. 13 Law No. 3468/2006). |
| Biogas | Eligible (art. 13 Law No. 3468/2006) |
| Hydro-power | Plants with a capacity of up to 15MW are eligible (art. 13 Law No. 3468/2006) |
| Biomass | Eligible (art. 13 Law No. 3468/2006) |
Amount
The feed-in tariffs vary according to the renewable energy source and are set at the levels indicated below (ch. D art. 13 Par. 1 b Law No. 3486/2006).
| Wind energy | The feed-in tariffs for wind power are set as follows (art. 13 par. 1 Law No. 3468/2006).
WS (With support): The plant producer operator has received some kind of government support (fiscal or, financial or subsidy) envisaged ruled byin the Investment Law or within the frame of the , European Union co-funded (such as the National Strategic Reference Framework) or not other programmes (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). In order So as to be included in this category, Tthe government support must exceed 20% of the total investment cost as of 12.2013 and has to is be included in the respective financial statements. In addition, 50% of the support should have been paid off (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). NS (No support): PIf the plant producer operators which does not fulfil any of the requirements of the WS category, the plant producers fall into the NS category (subparagraph IG2 case2 Law No.4254/ 2014). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Solar energy | Photovoltaic (PV) generation:
MASPv-1= Marginal Average System Price of the previous year (art. 15 par. 1 Law No. 3468/2006 in conjunction with FEK Β΄ 97/2012)
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP):
(art. 13 par. 1 Law No. 3468/2006) WS (With support): The plant operator producer has received some kind of government support (fiscal or , financial or subsidy) envisaged in the ruled by the Investment Law or within the frame , of the European Union co-funded (such as the National Strategic Reference Framework) or not other programmes (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). In order to So as to be included in this category, Tthe government support must exceed 20% of the total investment cost as of 12.2013 and is included in the respective financial statements. In addition, 50% of the support should have been paid off (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). NS (No support): PIf the plant operators producer which does not fulfil any of the requirements of the WS category, the plant producer falls into the NS category (subparagraph IG2 case2 Law No.4254/ 2014). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Geothermal energy | The feed-in tariffs for geothermal energy are are set as followssetmodified according to the table below (art. 13c Law No. 3468/2006):
WS (With support): The plant producer operator has received some kind of government support (fiscal or , financial or subsidy) envisaged ruled byin the Investment Law or within the frame of , the European Union co-funded (such as the National Strategic Reference Framework) or not other programmes (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). So as to be included in this category, Tthe government support must exceed 20% of the total investment cost as of 12.2013 and is included in the respective financial statements. In addition, 50% of the support should have been paid off (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). NS (No support): PIf the plant operators which producer does not fulfil any of the requirements of the WS category, the plant producers falls into the NS category (subparagraph IG2 case2 Law No.4254/ 2014). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Biogas | The feed-in tariffs for biogas are set as follows are modified set according to the table below (art. 13c Law No. 3468/2006):
WS (With support): The plant producer has received some kind of government support (fiscal or , financial or subsidy) envisaged in ruled by the Investment Law or within the frame of the , European Union co-funded (such as the National Strategic Reference Framework) or not other programmes (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). So as to be included in this category, Tthe government support must exceed 20% of the total investment cost as of 12.2013 and is included in the respective financial statements. In addition, 50% of the support should have been paid off (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). NS (No support): If the Pplant operators producer which does not fulfil any of the requirements of the WS category, the plant producer falls into the NS category (subparagraph IG2 case2 Law No.4254/ 2014). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hydro-power | The feed-in tariffs for hydro-power are set as follows modified set according to the table below (art. 13c Law No. 3468/2006):
For the existing small hydro installations feed-in tariffs are provided have been modified in according to the tables below (art. 11 par. 1 Law No. 3468/2006 in conjunction with subparagraph IG1 case 1c Law No.4254/2014):
WS (With support): The plant operator producer has received some kind of government support (fiscal or , financial or subsidy) envisaged in ruled by the Investment Law or within the frame of , the European Union co-funded (such as the National Strategic Reference Framework) or not other programmes (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). So as to be included in this category, tThe government support must exceed 20% of the total investment cost as of 12.2013 and is included in the respective financial statements. In addition, 50% of the support should have been paid off (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). NS (No support): If the plant operators producer which does not fulfil any of the requirements of the WS category, the plant producer falls into the NS category (subparagraph IG2 case2 Law No.4254/ 2014). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Biomass | The feed-in tariffs for biomass are set as follows are modified according to the table below (art. 13c Law No. 3468/2006):
WS (With support): The plant producer has received some kind of government support (fiscal or , financial or subsidy) envisaged in ruled by the Investment Law or within the frame of the, European Union co-funded (such as the National Strategic Reference Framework) or not other programmes (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). So as to be included in this category, Tthe government support must exceed 20% of the total investment cost as of 12.2013 and is included in the respective financial statements. In addition, 50% of the support should have been paid off (subparagraph IG2 case1 Law No.4254/ 2014). NS (No support): If the pPlant producer operators which does not fulfil any of the requirements of the WS category, the plant producer falls into the NS category (subparagraph IG2 case2 Law No.4254/ 2014). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Addressees
Entitled party. The persons entitled are those plant operators that hold a generation licence (art. 12 par. 1 Law No. 3468/2006). Under certain conditions laid down by law, the generation licence is issued by the Minister of Development, who bases his decision on the report of the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) (art. 3 Law No. 3468/2006). According to art. 4 par. 1 Law No. 3468/2006, the operators of the following plants or installations do not require a licence:
- Wind energy plants whose capacity does not exceed 100 KW
- PV or solar energy installations whose capacity does not exceed 1 MWp
- Geothermal plants whose capacity is less than 0.5 MW
- Biomass plants whose capacity does not exceed 1 MW
Obligated party. The persons obligated are the grid operators (art. 2 par. 1 in conjunction with art. 12 par. 1 Law No. 3468/2006). The grid operator shall be either the Greek transmission grid operator (ADMIE), if the power plants are connected to the grid, or a grid operator on an island not connected to the grid. When the Greek Electricity Market Operator (LAGIE) is fit to operate, the existing regime will change and LAGIE will constitute the obligated party (art. 118 par. 8 Law No. 4001/2011 in conjunction with art. 118 par. 2h Law No. 4001/2011).
Procedure
Process flow |
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Competent authority | The authority in charge of the feed-in tariff used to be the Greek transmission grid operator (D.E.S.M.I.E.) (art. 1 Min Res /F1/oik.17149). Law No. 4001/2011 established a new authority that shall be responsible for the FiT - the LAGIE (art. 118 par. 2h Law No. 4001/2011). |
Flexibility mechanism
The statistical transfer of a certain amount of RES electricity is possible by agreement with the Member States. The term of such an agreement may exceed one year. Every year, within a three-month time frame, a report will be published on the total amount of electricity produced from RES in the previous year. This report will facilitate the allocation procedure (art.32d Law No. 3468/2006). In any case, the European Commission must be informed of the pending termination of an agreement three months in advance (art. 32a Law No. 3468/2006).
Cap
Since 1.1.2014 a yearly cap of 200 MW has been set for PV installations until 2020. In case this cap is not reached, the remained annual capacity passes to the next year. The Minister of Energy, Environment and Climate Change can modify the existing cap after consulting the Regulatory Authority for Energy. In addition, The Minister of Energy, Environment and Climate Change after consulting the Regulatory Authority for Energy can allocate the yearly capacity through a tender (art.27a Law No.3734/2009 in conjunction with subparagraph IG6 Law No.4254/2014).
Eligibility period
The feed-in tariff is limited in time. The purchasing agreement has a duration of 20 years and may be extended by agreement between the parties (art. 12 par. 2 Law No. 3468/2006). This additional agreement shall be concluded at least three months prior to the agreement's expiry date. Agreements regarding solar-thermalCSP installations have a duration of 25 years (art. 12 par. 2 Law No. 3468/2006). For RES plants connected to the grid until 1.1.2014 and in operation for less than 12 years the purchase agreement is extended by 7 years and the calculation of the respective feedrespective feed-in tariffs iswill be based on another methodology (subparagraph IG4 Law No.4254/2014). It should be noted that the FiT scheme closed on 31 December 2015. However, plant operators that have signed a purchase agreement until 31 December 2016 are eligible for FiT under the following preconditions (art.3 par.11 Law No.4414/2016):
- The plants will be in fully operational until 31 March 2019 (wind, small hydro, biomass/ biogas)
- The plants will be in fully operational until 31 December 2017 (other renewable technologies rest of RES)
If RES plant operator fails Failure to meet theose preconditions, deadlines leads to the inclusion of the RES plant to the new support scheme. In other words, he can RES plant can only apply for a tender participation so asin order to acquire a “FFeed-in Premium” support (see. “Feed- In Premium”- art.3 par.12 Law No. 4414/2016).
Distribution of costs
| Consumers | The costs of the feed-in tariff system are borne by the consumers, who are obliged to pay a "Special Tax for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gases", which is added to their electricity bills (art. 40 par. 3c Law No. 2773/1999). The tax depends on the consumer category, is revised twice a year by the Regulatory Authority for Energy and varies from € 2.41 to 28.21 per MWh (RAE Resolution No. 465/2015 in conjunction with art. 143 Par. 3a Law No.4001/2011). |
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| State | The feed-in tariff is paid from the revenue of the “Special Account for RES and CHP” that is collected from the auction of GHG emission allowances (art.143 par.3b Law No.4001/2011). |
| Plant operator | Plant operators and electricity suppliers pay fees for the “Day Ahead Scheduling” as well as the sums that might emerge from Imbalance Settlement (art.143 par.3a Law No.4001/2011). |
| Distribution mechanism | The Electricity Market Operation (LAGIE) pays out the foreseen support through a “Special Account for RES and CHP (Art. 40 Par. 3c Law No. 2773/1999 in conjunction with Art. 1 Min Res /F1/oik.17149 in conjunction with Art. 143 Par.2 Law No.4001/2011). The “Special Account for RES and CHP” is divided in two basic categories: “Special Account for RES and CHP for the Transmission System” and “Special Account for RES and CHP for non-interconnected system”. “Special Account for RES and CHP for the Transmission System” is further divided into subaccounts: 1. “Subaccount of Electricity Market”, whose revenues are (art.143 par.3a Law No.4001/2011):
2. “Subaccount of Support”, whose revenues include (art.143 par.3b Law No.4001/2011):
Similar categorization is foreseen for “Special Account for RES and CHP for non-interconnected system” (art.143 par.4 Law No.4001/2011). |
Greece
