A couple of days ago, the Ministry of Environment and Energy submitted a bill which was passed by the Parliament and published in the Government Gazette in accordance with the law (Government Gazette A’ 193/20.10.2021). The subject of the bill is the amendment – addition of a number of provisions of the law that aim to regulate issues regarding the production of electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and High Resolution Cogeneration (HCHP) plants.
Article 3 of the amendment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy amends certain provisions of Law 3468/2006.The provisions of Law 3468/2006 transposed into Greek law Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the “promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market” (OJEC L 283) and promoted, as a priority in the internal electricity market, with rules and principles, the production of electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and High Efficiency Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants.
In particular, Article 3 of the amendment addresses the problem of limiting the right to transfer small RES plants. Par. 1 of Article 4 of Law 3468/2006 provides for the cases in which natural or legal persons producing electricity through specific categories of RES or CHP installations are exempted from the obligation to obtain an electricity production license or from any other declaratory decision. Par. 2 of the same Article provided, inter alia, for a prohibition on the transfer of electricity production plants from RES or CHP plants referred to in paragraph 1, before they become operational.
With the newest amendment to par. 2 of Article 4, the law now provides the interested natural and legal persons with the possibility of transferring these facilities even before they start operating, provided that the conclusion of a Connection Agreement with the Competent Operator has been concluded. Exceptionally, the transfer may also take place before the conclusion of the Connection Agreement, provided that the transfer is made
to a legal person whose share capital is wholly owned by the transferring legal
or natural person.
Pursuant to the restrictive cases referred to in par. 1 of Article 4 of Law No. 3468/2006,
the scope of application of the above amendment becomes particularly broad, while its reflective consequences would radically change the existing regime of smaller RES installations. In particular, the cases referred to in paragraph 1 include, inter alia, photovoltaic or solar thermal plants with an installed electrical capacity of less than or equal to one (1) MWp. The amendment of par. 2 will now provide investors with the possibility to transfer or acquire a RES plant before the commencement of its operations.
The importance of this amendment is apparent in cases where natural or legal persons who had undertaken the creation, installation and operation of such stations have not been able to complete their investment, resulting in it becoming unproductive. The law now provides a solution in cases of investments that were discontinued before completion.
On the one hand, investors who failed for whatever reason to complete their project are released from such a stalemate, through the possibility of transferring it before the commencement of operations.
On the other hand, this amendment paves the way for a number of flexible investments,
as stakeholders will be able to buy one or more renewable energy projects at reduced costs in a short period of time. Interested investors will be able to freely transfer any of their uncompleted projects, while interested buyers will be in a position to carry out the investment, thus contributing to the efficient use of the country’s energy resources.