VZCZCXRO8902
OO RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHTH #0118/01 0300904
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 300904Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3108
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ATHENS 000118 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/ERA FOR BEH/NELSON, EUR/PGI FOR TESSLER, 
OES/PCI FOR FITE/HUDAK, OES/EGC FOR FENDLEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KGHG SENV ENRG TRGY PREL PGOV GR
SUBJECT: RENEWABLES: GREECE AMENDS PHOTOVOLTAIC LAW BUT 
STILL LACKS CAPACITY 
 
REF: A. ATHENS 1481 
     ¶B. ATHENS 1538 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Ministry of Development and its Renewable 
Energy Sources (RES) division contacts told EconOff January 
20 they were close to wrapping up legislation designed to 
improve the environment for investing and implementing 
photo-voltaic (PV) projects.  The new law was approved on 
January 22 by the Hellenic Parliament and amends legislation 
originally approved in 2006 to regulate and incentivize the 
photovoltaic industry.  A representative from the Regulatory 
Authority on Energy (RAE) described the strong resistance of 
Greek communities to the placement of these photo-voltaic 
projects, attributing the issue to a lack of awareness of the 
Greek public.  Although the legislative framework is now in 
place, the Greek Government officials were not able to 
describe just how the GoG will build capacity, as well as 
review and decide upon a substantial backlog of projects by 
the end of 2009.  End Summary. 
 
Finalizing PV Legislation 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Ministry of Development Advisors to Secretary 
General Mousouroulis and the Director for Renewable Energy 
Sources (RES) Charalampos Pippos reported to EconOff on 
January 20 that the PV legislation was close to being 
approved by the Hellenic Parliament.  (Note:  They had 
originally reported that it would be in place by year-end. 
(reftel a) End Note.)  The advisors - Viky Georgakopoulou and 
Antony Marinos - said that even under new Minister of 
Development Costis Hatzidakis, SecGen Mousouroulis would 
continue to have purview on renewables for all energy 
matters.  Georgakopoulou and Marinos affirmed that the new 
law develops a separate program for rooftop PV with a 
different feed-in-tariffs (FIT) scheme than the one 
originated in the 2006 legislative framework, and that the 
FITs would be guaranteed for 20 years. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In addition, Georgakopoulou said the new PV law set 
a deadline to review its backlog of photo-voltaic projects by 
the end of 2009.  In the 2007 window for PV projects, 
investors oversubscribed the bid for projects by five times 
the available KW.  (Note:  Greece has a set amont of 
electricity that it is able to take into the grid.  End 
Note.)  Those applications remain in a hold file at the 
Regulatory Authority on Energy (RAE).  According to the new 
legislative framework, these projects on hold must be 
reviewed and decided upon by the end of 2009; however, none 
of the interlocutors at the Ministry of Development could 
explain how this would be done.  There were no plans for 
building capacity for RAE nor the RES arm of the Ministry of 
Development.  Instead, they said they would resort to 
technical outsourcing and even scour for candidates from 
within the Ministry of Development to assist the initiative. 
Nevertheless, they had made the request for additional staff 
from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, but did not expect 
assistance in these lean budget times. 
 
Looking for Help 
---------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Marinos said that they hoped the revised legislation 
would continue to attract investment from the private sector. 
 He added that this was necessary as the GoG did not receive 
any financial support from the EU for ramping up this sector, 
especially not in the way of operational costs.  However, the 
EU did support studies and small amounts of technical 
assistance to private investors.  Georgakopoulou and Marinos 
said they had traveled to Denmark, Germany, Spain, Sweden, 
and the UK to look at their projects and discuss their policy 
approaches.  One key problem that they were all facing was 
how to increase transmission capacity into the electricity 
grid.  It was particularly problematic when they considered 
the more remote islands, noted Marinos. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Pippos commented that, now that the legislative 
framework is in place, they were looking for best practices 
in licensing and administration and at technical issues such 
as the implementation of storage facilities for the 
electricity fed back into the grid.  They said the Public 
Power Corporation (PPC), the Greek monopoly provider of 
electricity, was subject to the rules of the Ministry of 
Development and had to coordinate and "obey" the directives 
outlined. 
 
 
ATHENS 00000118  002 OF 003 
 
 
Relationship with RAE 
--------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU)  Marinos said Regulatory Authority on Energy is a 
very independent authority, which mostly provides opinions on 
the energy sector, comprised of electricity and natural gas. 
(Background Note:  RAE's duties are as follows: monitors the 
operations of all sectors of the energy market, collects and 
processes information on energy in Greece, grants and 
monitors photo-voltaic licenses, issues a report every two 
years on the security of energy supply, and arbitrates 
complaints and disputes on transmission and distribution. 
End Background Note.) 
 
¶7. (SBU) Georgakopoulou said that lack of staff at RAE 
prevents it from playing a pivotal role in the energy market. 
 She added that most projects were outsourced to the Center 
for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES) or Hellenic Petroleum. 
Right now, the Ministry of Development was in discussion with 
RAE about how to pass on fees for renewables projects to the 
consumers.  Greek consumers of electricity currently pay a 
small amount of euro cents in their electricity bill, which 
could potentially be increased to a few euros to pay for this 
new program.  The advisors explained that Greek officials 
were reluctant to increase the additional cost for fear of 
political repercussions, but these conversations would 
continue until a viable solution is found. 
 
NIMBY! RAE faces political and legal hurdles 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Regulatory Authority on Energy (RAE) RES Unit 
Coordinator Georgia Glinou told EconOff on January 28 that it 
was not just a matter of building capacity to increase 
Greece's chances of meeting renewables' targets.  She 
stressed that there were several on-the-ground factors that 
hindered these projects from moving forward.   Glinou 
described how each renewables project was required to submit 
a feasibility study and that this had to correlate with the 
use of land specified in the registry.  The Ministry of 
Environment and Public Planning had embarked on a project to 
create a database on land uses and ownership, but this was 
far from complete, as public land ownership remains a 
complicated and contentious issue. 
 
¶9. (SBU) In addition to disputes over land-ownership, 
regional associations, municipalities, and even individuals 
frequently complained to the courts if the transmission grid 
passed through their property.  Glinou said that judges put 
an injunction to stop the project from moving forward and 
that this could delay projects for three to five years.  In 
general, Glinou said the Greek public did not grasp the 
benefits from the use of RES and were often resistant to the 
implementation of the projects. 
 
¶10. (SBU) As a result, RAE was looking more closely at 
providing incentives to municipalities.  Glinou said that all 
municipalities had reaped about 5 million euros from a 
legally-mandated 3 percent of profits from wind projects that 
was designed to give back to the community.  She explained 
that when the photo-voltaics law had been initiated in 2006, 
this 3 percent was not included in order to provide 
incentives for the investors.  As a result, she said they 
would have to come up with other incentives to convince 
municipalities and regional associations to agree to the 
implementation of RES projects. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) As earlier reported, Greece is serious about 
getting its act together on photo-voltaics.  By laying the 
legislative framework to improve the investment and business 
climate in this sector, Greece is sending a strong signal 
that this is a priority, and not only to meet its EU 
directives on renewables.  Keeping SecGen Mousouroulis as 
lead on this issue lends continuity to this initiative, but 
there does not appear to be an articulated plan for ramping 
up the GoG's capacity to review and implement an enormous 
backlog of projects within a year.  The GoG also faces 
hurdles in changing public opinion on RES projects and are 
looking at ways to incentivize municipalities.  Post 
continues to engage with the GoG on renewables and is 
identifying opportunities to share our best practices with 
the GoG, particularly in areas of licensing and 
administration.  End Comment. 
 
ATHENS 00000118  003 OF 003 
 
 
SPECKHARD