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Electricity sector reform in Greece
Abstract
This paper provides an outlook of the electricity market reform in Greece which started in 2001 and is still developing slowly. This is related to the persisting dominance of the incumbent company and the specificities of the electricity sector of Greece which is heavily dependent on indigenous lignite firing generation, while being located in the periphery of the EU internal electricity and gas markets. Competition through enhancing electricity trade in the region is limited to date, as the establishment of an internal market in South East Europe also progresses slowly. Development of competition through gas-firing generation by new entrants has been the priority adopted by State and Regulator's policies. However, the gas supply market in Greece and in the region still lags behind.
... For example, the PPC provides reduced tariffs to agricultural activities that contribute to the primary crop and animal production (Public Power Corporation 2010). Moreover, the PPC offers special tariffs to families with more than three children and special discounts in electricity charges to earthquake victims, persons with a low income, the long-term unemployed, and disabled people, as well as people on life support (Iliadou 2009: 84, Public Power Corporation 2015. ...
... Costly oil-based electricity generating along with the unified price system discourages private investors from entering the energy market of the non-connected islands (Iliadou 2009: 77). Thus, the PPC remains the sole electricity supplier of these islands, with the exception of Crete (Iliadou 2009: 77, Kelemenis 2012. ...
... The PPC benefits locals as follows: The PPC branch employs around ten locals and this employment ensures a considerable number of Amorgian families a definite income given that familism and nepotism includes numerous relatives helping each other (L28). In addition, the PPC provides low electricity prices to its employees (T11) and offers special tariffs to farmers and families with more than three children (Iliadou 2009: 84) (cf. Patron-client relationships between municipality and locals allow locals to maintain familism by making the municipality unreliable for two reasons. ...
Die gegenwärtige Politik betrachtet Windenergieanlagen als ein entscheidendes Mittel für die Gestaltung einer nachhaltigen Zukunft. Dennoch lehnen die BewohnerInnen der griechischen Insel Amorgos Anträge zum Bau von Windenergieanlagen ab. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung analysiere ich, wie die InselbewohnerInnen die Option der Windenergie beurteilen. Die Analyse basiert auf einem interdisziplinären theoretischen Ansatz und einem neu entwickelten analytischen Rahmenwerk, dem Institutions - Habits - Intuitions (IHI) framework. Qualitative Forschungsmethoden, insbesondere persönliche Befragungen und teilnehmende Beobachtungen, sind wesentliche Elemente der Datenerhebung und erlauben mir, mich umfassend in den amorgianischen Kontext zu vertiefen. Die Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass der Beurteilungsprozess auf dem Zusammenwirken von Kosten-Nutzen Kalkulationen, der Infragestellung der Thematik der Windenergie und intuitivem Handeln basiert. Die Option der Windenergie erschüttert die herkömmlichen Interaktionen der InselbewohnerInnen, die die lokale Tourismuswirtschaft und Gemeindeverwaltung bestimmen. Die Kombination pre-formeller Institutionen, eingefahrener Gepflogenheiten und intuitives Agierens aufgrund bisheriger Erfahrungen bringt die amorgianische Gesellschaft dazu, Windenergieprojekte abzulehnen. Die Analyse beruht auf der Anwendung von Ansätzen der Sozialpsychologie und der Institutionenökonomik. Damit wird u.a. die gängige Annahme, der Mensch sei a priori ein Investor hinterfragt und die Absicht verfolgt, die Kluft zwischen Wirtschaftswissenschaften und ‘realer Welt’ zu verringern. Die Insel von Amorgos ist ein beispielhafter Mikrokosmos in und für Griechenland als Ganzes. Energiepolitische Strategien und die lokalen und nationalen Beurteilungsprozesse dieser sind dabei nur zu verstehen, wenn die mit dem Neoliberalismus zusammenhängende, tiefgreifende sozio-ökonomische Krise Griechenlands in den Blick genommen wird.
... In 2001, Greece initiated an electricity reform, which was aimed at the liberalization of the electricity market. According to Danias, Swales and McGregor [125] and Iliadou [126], the main obstacles to the reform are incumbent company dominance, the electricity sector's dependence on indigenous lignite firing generation, the non-standard geographical location of the country, Greece's presence in the periphery of EU electricity and gas markets, the country's financial crisis and weak political will. The PSO fee in Greece has been in place since 2007. ...
... Wind energy is the most developed in Lithuania and its capacity has increased around 2.8 times during 2011-2018 (from 191 MW to 532 MW), which corresponds to the average annual growth of 17% (Table 7). In second place is hydro power, although it has maintained a slight upward trend (from 126 Looking at the change in the PSO levy from 2010 to 2020 (Appendix C), several trends can be seen: it increased during 2011-2014 and decreased during 2014-2020. This can be partly explained by the fact that the funds from the PSO levy fund are being virtually allocated only to RES, eliminating all other areas of support. ...
Energy policy affects the functioning of the economic and financial systems of countries worldwide. This paper provides a theoretical overview of the economy–energy nexus and discusses the particular cases of the energy policy dynamics amid the sustainability goals. This paper integrates multiple perspectives on the energy–economy nexus, with a particular focus on the energy trilemma, 4As of energy security and PESTEL approach. This allows the development of a comprehensive framework for the analysis of energy security and the sustainability interaction. A review of manifestations of the different dimensions of energy security and sustainability is carried out to identify the most topical facets of the issue. Then, the cases of the selected European Union countries (Ireland, Greece, Denmark and Lithuania) are presented to highlight the effects and features of the recent energy policy changes there. Indeed, these countries apply a PSO levy mechanism on electricity tariffs and are diverse in their geopolitical situation, economic development, geographical situation and energy dependency level. The analysis of the situations of such different countries applying the PSO levy mechanism makes it possible to perform a broader and more in-depth assessment and comparison of electricity tariff regulations. Thus, the developed theoretical model is applied to identify the major outcomes of the energy policy regimes (with a focus on tariff regulation) in the selected countries.
... The terrain of the country is mainly mountainous, with ranges extending into the sea as peninsulas or chains of islands. It is indicative that Greece has extensive coastlines (15,021 km) and roughly 2000 islands, most of which have no interconnection with the continental power grid [24]. ...
... Due to the characteristic of the geographical concentration of the population, Greece has two main electricity load centers in the aforementioned cities. In this context, the electricity load of the noninterconnected islands amounts to approximately 8% of the total electricity demand [24]. ...
This paper presents a roadmap performed in 2010 as part of a European project for the modelling of carbon capture and storage technology, and various scenarios with different taxations and permit prices for the CO2 emissions considering the Greek national plans, then the gradual decommissioning of various lignite or other units of electricity power plants. In addition, this study presents a first check, 10 years after its writing, of the current situation of the Greek energy system, regarding the correspondence of the roadmap designed in 2010 to what has been finally executed during this period, including the possibility of other energy sources complimenting or substituting the national strategic energy plans. For this purpose, the integrated MARKAL-EFOM system (TIMES) was employed to model the Greek energy system and evaluate its development over time, until 2040, by analyzing three different scenarios with respect to taxation and permit prices for carbon emissions. The results obtained show that, if this study had been considered and executed by the different stakeholders during that period, then the implementation of CCS in the new licensed power plants from 2010 and onwards could reduce the use of lignite and imported hard coal power production in a much smoother and beneficial way in the next years, and until the present, without compromising any major power plants. This implementation would also make the transition to a lignite free economy in Greece much faster and better, while complimenting the EU regulations and also enhancing the possible greater use of alternative energy sources in the green energy mixture.
... There are also potential sources (geothermal energy, biomass). The percentage with which each energy source contributes to final electricity consumption is shown in Fig. 1 [3]. ...
... The economically exploitable hydrodynamic energy reaches the level of 12 TWh of which, up to today, only the 40 % has been developed. The total installed power of hydroelectric plants is 3 The average annual hydroelectric power production, depending on the year's hydraulicity, covers 9 %-10 % of electricity production. Fig. 4 represents the Greek mainland electrical energy production and distribution system [5]. ...
Electricity is considered to be one of the most important and vital goods. Each country should be energy independent and efficient in order to cope with its citizens needs and abstain political, economical and social after effects. Greek electrification initiated and evolved in a much slower pace than the rest of Europe. The foundation of the Public Power Cooperation S.A. (PPC) in 1950 was one of the most significant steps for essential, more organized and further growth of electrification. In this paper a thorough analysis of the Greek electrical energy sources, such as lignite, oil, natural gas, hydroelectric power and renewable energy sources is made and their percentage participation in electrical energy production is examined. After obtaining a broad picture of the current electrical energy production state in Greece, it is concluded that there is the need for the development of environmental friendly unexploited energy forms. Several measures towards that direction combined with Greek policy and objectives are demonstrated.
... The market opening efforts can be divided into three phases: Below we present a synopsis of these reforms, while for more details we refer the interested reader to [17]- [20]. ...
... 16 The average period of adjustment towards the equilibrium is calculated by the following formula: T=ln(0.5)/ln(a+b) 17 All the other market reforms had no impact according their coefficients. These results are not presented here due to space limitations. ...
This empirical study assesses the impact of specific regulatory policy measures, adopted in the Greek wholesale electricity market during the period 2004-2011, on the Day-Ahead Market Price. We consider an ARMA-GARCH model extended to include dummies and other exogenous variables that affect market prices, such as RES and Hydro electricity production, as well as load volumes and Brent crude oil prices. In order to analyse the impact of the regulatory reforms on price and volatility dynamics, we include regime dummy variables, reflecting the timeline of these reforms. Based on the results, we discuss the impact of the examined reforms and their significance.
... Diachronically, Greek electricity market is controlled either directly or indirectly by the state. A thorough historical background of Greek electricity sector is presented by Illiadou [17]. According to the author, at 1950 the state merged the small scattered local electricity enterprises into a large national company, the Public Power Corporation (PPC), which was a 100% public corporation. ...
... Despite the efforts, PPC is still under public control and continues to possess almost the entire market of electricity production and provision. According to Illiadou [17], two significant issues of the Greek energy sector are the under-investment and the inability to produce power with modern techniques which are more efficient and less costly. ...
This paper applies a bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) formulation aiming to evaluate the financial performance of the firms operating in the Greek renewable energy sector. With the use of financial ratios in a DEA setting, efficiency ratios are constructed in order to analyse firms’ financial performance. The results reveal that firms’ performances are positively influenced by the high levels of return on assets and equity and by lower levels of debt to equity. In addition it appears that there are not significant differences of firms’ efficiency levels indicating high competitiveness between firms. Finally, firms producing wind energy appear to perform better than firms producing hydropower energy. It emerges that the majority of firms are operating in the wind and hydropower energy production making the Greek market of solar energy production being an emerging segment of the Greek renewable energy sector.
... Diachronically, Greek electricity market is controlled either directly or indirectly by the state. A thorough historical background of Greek electricity sector is presented by Illiadou [17]. According to the author, at 1950 the state merged the small scattered local electricity enterprises into a large national company, the Public Power Corporation (PPC), which was a 100% public corporation. ...
... Despite the efforts, PPC is still under public control and continues to possess almost the entire market of electricity production and provision. According to Illiadou [17], two significant issues of the Greek energy sector are the under-investment and the inability to produce power with modern techniques which are more efficient and less costly. ...
This paper applies a bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) formulation aiming to evaluate the financial performance of the firms operating in the Greek renewable energy sector. With the use of financial ratios in a DEA setting, efficiency ratios are constructed in order to analyse firms’ financial performance. The results reveal that firms’ performances are positively influenced by the high levels of return on assets and equity and by lower levels of debt to equity. In addition it appears that there are not significant differences of firms’ efficiency levels indicating high competitiveness between firms. Finally, firms producing wind energy appear to perform better than firms producing hydropower energy. It emerges that the majority of firms are operating in the wind and hydropower energy production making the Greek market of solar energy production being an emerging segment of the Greek renewable energy sector.
... Diachronically, Greek electricity market is controlled either directly or indirectly by the state. A thorough historical background of Greek electricity sector is presented by Illiadou (2009). According to the author, at 1950 the state merged the small scattered local electricity enterprises into a large national company the Public Power Corporation (PPC), which was a 100% public corporation. ...
... Despite the efforts, PPC is still under public control and continues to possess almost the entire market of electricity production and provision. According to Illiadou (2009), two significant issues of the Greek energy sector are the under-investment and the inability to produce power with modern techniques which are more efficient and less costly. ...
This paper applies a bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) formulation aiming to evaluate the financial performance of the firms operating in the Greek renewable energy sector. With the use of financial ratios in a DEA setting, efficiency ratios are constructed in order to analyse firms' financial performance. The results reveal that firms' performances are positively influenced by the high levels of return on assets and equity and by lower levels of debt to equity. In addition it appears that there are not significant differences of firms' efficiency levels indicating high competitiveness between firms. Finally, firms producing wind energy appear to perform better than firms producing hydropower energy. It emerges that the majority of firms are operating in the wind and hydropower energy production making the Greek market of solar energy production being an emerging segment of the Greek renewable energy sector.
... The authority in charge of designing and independent body in charge of the operation of the distribution network inGreece. HEDNO succeeded PPC as the ISO and is also responsible for operating, maintaining, and upgrading local Low and Medium Voltage (LV and MV) grids across the country(Iliadou, 2009). With the support of HEDNO, the final NIIs Code was published in February of 2014. ...
The Greek islands’ power system is fragmented into 29 autonomous electrical systems relying on oil-fired generators to supply 82% of their electricity demand. Local power grids are only allowed to absorb a maximum renewable energy share of approximately 30% to secure the stability of the network and avoid abrupt frequency alterations. Inevitably, fossil-fuel dominated, isolated systems lead to increased generation costs, high carbon intensity and frequent power cuts. A novel integrated methodological approach has been developed to address these challenges consisting of: I) Long and short-term modelling considering interconnections and energy storage in the form of batteries versus the current energy autonomy, using the PLEXOS integrated energy model (Energy Exemplar, 2019) for a projection horizon extending between 2020 and 2040. II) ISLA demand model (Spataru, 2013), adapted to the Greek islands (ISLA_EGI), preceded by an extensive data processing, to anticipate annual demand scenarios. The two models inform each other and support the analysis of 35 scenarios. III) The development of methods to simulate electromobility in PLEXOS considering various charging strategies. This analysis contextualises the impact of innovative technologies in providing feasible solutions on the Greek islands in line with the Energy Trilemma Index (security, affordability, sustainability). It was concluded that when combining submarine interconnections and batteries (Scenario IB.x.1.0.a), generation prices were reduced by 42% at the regional and 10% at the national level compared to a BAU scenario (A.y.1.0.a), while carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) emissions are reduced by 99% and 74% respectively. Also, power outage events are abolished. The benefits of a High-Efficiency demand scenario produced by ISLA_EGI show further reductions of 2.5% in emissions between 2020 and 2040. The results unveil that certain small, remote systems should remain autonomous, supported by battery storage. The operation of EVs highlights that primarily V2G scenarios and occasionally, scheduled unidirectional charging bring the ultimate benefits.
... Several aspects of electricity sectors in SEE have been addressed in previous literature. For example, references (Danias et al., 2013;Iliadou, 2009) describe the early stages of restructuring in the Greek electricity market, where the first reference specifically highlights instances of market power by the formerly vertically integrated electricity company, cross-subsidization as a barrier to entry of new technologies, and unsatisfactory independence of the National Regulatory Authority (NRA). Haar and Marinescu (2011) outline the market liberalization process in Romania and assess its effects on foreign direct investment. ...
This paper provides a comprehensive review of the current state and planned developments in the electricity sectors across eight countries in South East Europe (SEE). It highlights positive examples as well as barriers to efficient market operation and regional market integration. Progress is evaluated in terms of the level of implementation of required legislation, and the efficacy of regulatory frameworks to facilitate market integration of renewables, emerging technologies, and active demand participation. The observations are based on exhaustive research into European Union (EU) and national legislation, as well as a questionnaire taken by industry experts from the corresponding Transmission System Operators offering first-hand insights into the electricity sectors in the region. The conducted investigation demonstrates that SEE countries are at different stages in market opening and compliance with EU energy policy but show unity in the aim of integrating into the EU internal electricity market. The harmonization of legislation and technical requirements is highlighted as a precondition to this goal as it would facilitate cross-border trade, increase efficiency through the shared use of resources, and incentivize infrastructure investments. The analyses show that there is a continuous progress in development of wholesale and balancing markets in the region, but problems with liquidity and incumbents impede the process. The progress towards renewable generation targets varies between the countries, however, the region is committed to electricity sector decarbonization and digitalization in the future. Finally, the paper presents potential directions for regional power sector developments in response to the challenges in electricity market design for a low-carbon future.
... Oil prices according to the high growth and low growth scenarios (Euros/tonne) 3 (see online version for colours) Source:IEA and OECD (2014) ...
Greece consists of 58 non-interconnected islands, located mainly in the Aegean Sea. Electricity is supplied to this region by 32 autonomous power systems (APS) using heavy fuel oil or diesel power generators. A number of interconnections between the islands and the national grid system have been scheduled for the upcoming years. In this paper, we analyse the economic and environmental benefits following the interconnections. It was concluded that Greece could save between 2015 and 2040, from 9.73 to 17.82 billion Euros, subject to fuel price costs and demand growth. These amounts are charged to the Greek power customers through a cross subsidisation policy known as public service obligation. Additionally, avoided costs for APS upgrade, range between 2.63 and 1.80 billion Euros. Interconnectors will also reduce the carbon footprint in the area by 51.1%–65.5% compared to the scenario of preserving APS. This is attributed mainly to renewable energy development reaching proportions of 84.7%–119% of the total power demand by 2040.
... The provisions of directive 2003/54/EC have also mobilized private investment and competition in the sector. However, the peculiar scheme remains; the networks have remained monopolistic and regulated, whereas free market rules have been applied for electricity generation and supply to eligible customers (Iliadou, 2009). PPC remains a vertically integrated private company. ...
This paper is a comparative review of the renewable energy performance of Turkey and Greece. Both neighboring countries sharing the same energy hub with a large potential for renewable energy production. Albeit having strikingly similar energy objectives and hindrances, they are currently challenged by different contexts. Turkey, although not a European Union member, it spends efforts to tacitly comply with European Union legislation and sets ambitious renewable energy targets. Greece on the other hand is afflicted by an economic crisis that threatens to retard its renewable energy developments unless Greece uses renewable energy sources as a means to escape the crisis. This paper is useful for potential renewable energy investors in the area of Greece and Turkey.
... Customer tariffs applied by PPC, which holds 98% of consumers, are regulated by the state and their structure still includes large cross-subsidizations among customer categories. It is also claimed that the level of regulated electricity prices is below power generation costs in Greece(Iliadou, 2009). Besides, compliance with the EU legislation on unbundling has been delayed in Greece and is still poorly developed. ...
In the last two decades, more than half of the countries in the world have introduced a reform process in their power industries and billions of dollars have been spent on liberalizing electricity markets around the world. This thesis presents a doctoral research concerned with the cross-country empirical analysis of the electricity market reforms. The thesis is in three-paper format; that is, we present three independent but related stand-alone papers.
The first paper focuses on the impact of power market reforms on electricity price-cost margins and industrial/residential price ratios. It investigates this issue by looking at the impact of the electricity industry reforms on residential and industrial electricity price-cost margins and their effect on industrial/residential price ratios. Using panel data from 63 developed and developing countries covering the period 1982–2009, empirical models are developed and analysed. The results suggest that each individual reform step has different impact on price-cost margins and industrial/residential price ratios for each consumer and country group. That is to say, our findings imply that similar reform steps may have different impacts in different countries, which supports the idea that reform prescription for a specific country cannot easily be transferred to another one with similar success.
The second paper explores whether the question of why some countries are able to implement more extensive reforms is closely related to the question of why some countries have better institutions than others. It analyses this question by using an empirical econometric model based on Poisson regression with cross-section data covering 51 states in US, 13 provinces in Canada and 51 other countries. The study concludes that both the background of the chairperson and the minister/governor and institutional endowments of a country are important determinants of how far reforms have gone in a country.
Considering the fact that ideological considerations, political composition of governments and educational/professional background of leaders have played and will play a crucial role throughout the reform process; the third paper attempts to discover the impact of political economic variables on the liberalization process in electricity markets. It develops and analyses empirical models using panel data from 55 developed and developing countries covering the period 1975–2010. The results suggest that a portion of the differences in the reform experiences of reforming countries in the past three decades can be explained by differences in the political structure, in the ideology of the government and in the professional and educational backgrounds of the political leaders.
... Additionally, because it has the characteristics of a public good, it will probably be undersupplied by the private sector (Foxon and Pearson, 2008). In the case of the Greek electricity sector reform, since the 1950s, when the Public Power Corporation (PPC) was founded, the electricity sector has been vertically organized according to the monopolistic model (Iliadou, 2009). PPC was a state-owned company that had exclusive rights to the production, transmission and distribution of electric power. ...
Rapid diffusion of renewable energy sources (RES) in the electricity power sector is crucial if the EU wants to fulfill its 2050 CO2 reduction commitments. For this reason, identifying and alleviating all barriers that hinder the development of RES is necessary to the successful deployment of these technologies. This paper discusses the main barriers in the diffusion of wind and photovoltaic (PV) solar power in the Greek electricity sector by drawing on the literature of technological innovation systems and system functions. Furthermore, we provide an explanation of the different diffusion rates between the two technologies. Inadequate financial resources, low grid capacity, delays in the issuance of building permits, opposition from local communities to the construction of wind farms and the lack of a stable institutional framework are among the most important barriers that inhibit the diffusion of the wind and PV solar power. The nature of the barriers identified in this study calls for policy intervention.
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... In this regard, in order to achieve the national RES targets and structure a secure and at the same time socially fair investing environment that may attract private funds, an integrated costbenefit analysis is currently developed, aiming at the reform of RES State support in Greece [8], following also the ongoing discussion in several countries regarding the effectiveness of State support measures [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. To this end, a number of representative case studies, covering both the mainland and the island region of the Greek territory are currently examined, focusing on the three most widespread RES of the local market, i.e. wind energy, hydropower and solar energy. ...
Although development of renewable energy sources (RES) projects is essential for the Greek national economy to revive, cut downs of public spends in Greece may equally well extend to affect RES support mechanisms. In this context, an integrated cost-benefit analysis is currently undertaken concerning RES investments in the Greek electricity sector. More specifically, social support compared with financial benefits accruing from such energy stations reveals hidden imbalances that urge for the reform of the current support status. Examination of representative case studies currently provided considers the three most widespread RES, i.e. wind energy, hydropower and solar energy, with special emphasis given on the determination of break-even feed-in-tariffs (FITs) and the comparison of life-cycle electricity production cost between RES and conventional power stations.
... The liberalisation of the Greek electricity sector started in 2001 with Law 2773/1999, following the transposition of the relevant European Directives to Greek legislation and the transformation of the Public Power Corporation (PPC). For an informative and updated account of the history of the electricity system in Greece, the interested reader should consult Iliadou [58] and Polemis and Dagoumas [36]. The electricity market used to be operated by the Hellenic Transmission System Operator (HTSO) and supervised by the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE). ...
The interactions between electricity generation sources and industrial production in Greece were analysed from August 2004 to October 2013. Greece has been subject to a tough economic adjustment under external financial assistance guidelines. In the meantime, the country has remained committed to international agreements concerning the use of renewables. The variables interact with each other, and this endogeneity has been analysed using a VECM model. A short-run, causal relationship from conventional fossil sources to economic growth, was proved. However, there is no evidence of causal relationships from renewable electricity to economic growth, either in the short- or long-run. Only economic growth gives rise to renewable electricity, whether in the short- or long-run. A fresh insight on the current state of dynamics between electricity sources within an electricity generation system, is thus added to the literature. These findings will inform energy policymakers in designing policies both to encourage the incorporation of national technology into renewables and to reduce electricity consumption without hampering economic growth.
... This centralized model has delivered economies of scale and reliability but there are significant drawbacks. For example, the electricity supply system suffers an approximate loss of 65% of the primary energy input, predominantly as a result of heat wasted during electricity production (compounded by ageing power plants) and through transmission and distribution losses (Iliadou, 2009). Clearly, thermodynamic constraints prevent elimination of these losses completely; however decentralized technologies such as CHP plants can increase the efficiency of fossil fuel use by capturing some of the rejected heat and supplying it for space and water heating. ...
With climate change at the top of the international political agenda, and energy security an increasing concern for Western nations, consumers producing their own electricity might be one ideal solution. Decentralized or distributed energy supply refers to the generation of energy close to the point of use. It can denote a range of generator sizes; from community or district-level down to individual households. Decentralized supply and micro-generation has not so far had a real impact on Greece’s energy system. The only significant source that has been developed is the solar thermal, where Greece has a mature market and as a result has one of the highest installed capacities of solar thermal in all of the EU-15.
Following the example set by a number of EU countries, policy makers in Greece should begin to reach a consensus about the need to develop policies that can have an active, significant and lasting impact on the behaviors of both consumers and producers, in order to meet the extreme environmental challenges of the 21st century. There are a number of advantages to micro-generation that suggest they may have an important role in developing a more sustainable Greek energy-system. These include their potential to aid the realisation of carbon reduction targets, and their ability to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and increase energy security. A further advantage regards their potential role in the development of rural communities.
... Subsequently, the legal framework was revised in order to comply with the provisions of Directive 2003/54/EC and to incentivise private investment and competition. However, according to Ekaterini Iliadou (2007), it may not have led yet to a change in the market structurehence the World Bank Investing Across Border classification. recently) have low restrictions and this largely extends to green FDI sectors, whether defined narrowly or broadly. ...
This paper was developed at the request of the OECD Working Party of the Investment Committee to document efforts to date to define and measure green FDI and to investigate the practicability of various possible definitions, as well as to identify investment policy restrictions to green FDI. It does so by reviewing the literature and existing work on the contributions of FDI to the environment; by providing a two-part definition of green FDI; and by discussing various assumptions necessary to estimate the magnitude of 'green' FDI.
... For this reason while the economic activities of the electricity industry are namely; generation, transmission, distribution and retail supply; the economic activities of natural gas industry can be grouped into the following five; generation, transmission, distribution, storage and retail supply. For the both industries as of today, although the transmission and distribution activities are 1 The following papers, among others, provide evidences that electricity industry displays natural monopolies; Gunn and Sharp (1999) for New Zealand, Iliadou (2009) for Greece and finally Bagdadioglu et al. (1996) for Turkey. 2 The studies, among others, concluding that natural gas industries constitute natural monopoly are; Kay and Thompson (1986) for US;Hammond et al. (2005) for UK and Gordon et al. (2003) for Canada. naturally monopolistic; generation, production and retail supply are potentially competitive. ...
This chapter attempts to provide a theoretical work on natural monopoly versus perfect markets through concentrating on the
energy sector. In specific we discuss the natural monopolistic structure of Turkish natural gas and electricity markets by
comparing those of various countries in Europe. In this vein, our chapter starts with the introduction of natural monopoly
in both electricity and natural gas markets and the tools and regulations that targets on tackling this imperfection. Furthermore
we present the historical phases of regulations to tackle natural monopoly in Turkish electricity and natural gas markets.
Both price-demand and income-demand relationships are important guides for developing energy efficient programs for governments
and hence income and price elasticities are channels for the relevant regulations. Armed with this in order to provide comparison,
our chapter concludes with discussing the extent of the natural monopoly in each country through demonstration of income and
price elasticities of demand for both electricity and natural gas.
... Other energy sources are diesel (14%), natural gas (4.4%), hydroelectric energy (8.8%) with a total of about 65 hydroelectric power generation stations, renewable energy sources (2.2%) and electricity imported from abroad (3.6%) [9,10]. (ii) The noninterconnected island network of the Aegean sea, where energy generation is based exclusively on diesel and heavy fuel oil (mazut) [11]. It should be noted that coal is the fossil fuel with the largest potential for CO 2 emissions, followed by mazut, diesel and natural gas in a decreasing potential order [12]. ...
Fresh water shortage is one of the greatest problems of modern society; the explosive increase in world population, along with the unusual socio-economic development have led to an increased water demand, making water shortage a critical issue for countries like Greece. Desalination of seawater is suitable for supplying arid regions of the country with potable water and is becoming the dominant alternative in drinking water production, but may be energy intensive. On the other hand, global warming initiatives push for sustainable alternatives that will produce minimal or negligible quantities of CO2 to prevent climate change conditions. In this paper, a survey of several desalination plants in Greece is conducted, studying their energy usage patterns, in an effort to determine their car-bon footprint. Specifically, a questionnaire has been sent out to desalination plants that addresses questions relative to the location and size of the plants, plant equipment condition, water production seasonality, whether energy required is generated on-site, or is purchased by a power plant and possible use of renewable energy sources. A different survey of the Greek Public Power Corporation has been conducted, in order to determine the type of fuel used by the power plants that supply each desalination plant with energy. Taking into account all this information and other energy-related factors, we provide estimates of the carbon footprint of several desalination plants in Greece.
... Throughout this paper, and unless otherwise mentioned, we will refer to the market design that is in force after the last day of the transitory period (referred to as the 5 th " reference day " in the Code), which is September 30, 2010. For an outlook of the electricity market reform in Greece, the interested reader is referred to [2]. ...
Greece's wholesale electricity market is a mandatory pool in which the commodities of energy and ancillary services are simultaneously traded and dispatched on the generation units. In this paper, we provide an overview of the Greek wholesale electricity market with emphasis on ancillary services. Considering the wide range of ancillary services, our goal is to contribute to the growing literature on individual case studies and comparisons of different ancillary services markets worldwide, pointing out similarities and differences with other market models. In addition, we discuss several aspects, and report on some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Greek wholesale electricity market model.
... The percentage with which each energy source contributes to final electricity consumption is shown inFig. 1 [3]. ...
Electricity is considered to be one of the most important and vital goods. Each country should be energy independent and efficient in order to cope with its citizens needs and abstain political, economical and social after effects. Greek electrification initiated and evolved in a much slower pace than the rest of Europe. The foundation of the Public Power Cooperation S.A. (PPC) in 1950 was one of the most significant steps for essential, more organized and further growth of electrification. In this paper a thorough analysis of the Greek electrical energy sources, such as lignite, oil, natural gas, hydroelectric power and renewable energy sources is made and their percentage participation in electrical energy production is examined. After obtaining a broad picture of the current electrical energy production state in Greece, it is concluded that there is the need for the development of environmental friendly unexploited energy forms. Several measures towards that direction combined with Greek policy and objectives are demonstrated.
This paper presents an extensive comparison between public and private natural gas-fired units in managing the unit commitment problem in the context of the Greek electricity market. Using a unique hourly dataset from 2015–2019, our approach utilizes risk-weighted performance metrics—Cash Flows at Risk (CFaR) and Risk Weighted Return (RWR)—to analyze performance across the public and private units. Empirical findings indicate that publicly owned natural gas-fired units outperform privately owned natural gas-fired units in terms of operational efficiency, however the efficiency of privately owned natural gas-fired units is growing at a faster pace and is expected to surpass the efficiency of public units within 2 or 3 years.
The article examines the national concept of energy security, which is the basis for the energy policy of Greece. The factors that shape the perception of national energy security at the political and expert levels due to regional specifics are analyzed. The influence of these factors (external and internal) on the country’s energy policy is emphasized. The reasons for the liberalization of the Greek energy sector are considered. The article describes individual branches of the energy sector and their role in ensuring energy security. The impact of new trends in global energy markets on the Greek energy sector is considered. The article describes new opportunities and challenges that Greece faces due to the impact of globalization on the world energy sector. The article analyzes the country’s view of its place and role in the implementation of the European Union’s energy policy. Energy projects implemented by leading players with the participation of Greece are listed and characterized. Emphasis is placed on the possibilities of Russian-Greek cooperation in the energy sector.
Lignite has long dominated Greece’s electricity system, boosting economic growth and energy security, given the abundant domestic resources. In line with its national and international commitments to climate action and sustainable development, the country is currently facing the urgent need to transform its energy system, overcome its technological lock-ins, and transition to a low-carbon economy. Drawing from the need to secure a sustainable transition that considers the impacts of a lignite phase-out on local economies, this study builds upon the Multi-Level Perspective framework and further focuses on the phase-out of the dominant fossil fuel, rather than solely exploring the phase-in of new technologies. By delving into the landscape that established lignite as the mainstream energy resource in Greece, as well as the factors sustaining its dominance despite niche technologies and innovations challenging the regime, we discuss how the envisaged decarbonization can be socially just and effective across multiple sustainability dimensions.
The paper tracks the evolution of the Greek electricity market since the beginning of the liberalization process. Its progress is benchmarked against the criteria suggested by Littlechild (2006b). The Littlechild framework highlights key remaining deficiencies in the stances and policies adopted which need to be resolved in order for liberalization to proceed successfully. The focus is on the agendas of the Greek government, other domestic political forces and the European Union. A central requirement is the clear commitment to liberalization by the Greek government. In particular the government needs to give up political control over the previous vertically integrated, state-controlled electricity firm, Public Power Company (PPC), and allow more decision making powers and genuine independence to the market regulator. Liberalization is rendered more difficult by the present financial and economic crisis in Greece.
This work presents the results of an empirical research with the target of
modeling the stylized facts of the daily expost System Marginal Price (SMP) of
the Greek wholesale electricity market, using data from January 2004 to
December of 2011. SMP is considered here as the footprint of an underline
stochastic and nonlinear process that bears all the information reflecting not
only the effects of changes in endogenous or fundamental factors of the market
but also the impacts of a series of regulatory reforms that have continuously
changed the market's microstructure. To capture the dynamics of the conditional
mean and volatility of SMP that generate the stylized facts(mean reversion,
price spikes, fat tails price distribution etc), a number of ARMAX GARCH models
have been estimated using as regressors an extensive set of fundamental factors
in the Greek electricity market as well as dummy variables that mimic the
history of Regulator's interventions. The findings show that changes in the
microstructure of the market caused by the reforms have strongly affected the
dynamic evolution of SMP and that the best found model captures adequately the
stylized facts of the series that other electricity and financial markets
share. The dynamics of the conditional volatility generated by the model can be
extremely useful in the efforts that are under way towards market restructuring
so the Greek market to be more compatible with the requirements of the European
Target Model.
More than half of the countries in the world have introduced a reform process in their power sectors since 1980s. Adapting a political economy perspective, this paper attempts to discover the impact of political economic variables on the liberalization process in electricity markets. Empirical models are developed using panel data from 55 developed and developing countries covering the period 1975-2010. The research findings clearly show that political variables have a significant impact on the reform progress. Consistent with public choice theory and economic theory of regulation, our results suggest that a portion of the differences in the reform experiences of reforming countries in the past three decades can be explained by differences in the relative strength of interest groups. We find that industry sector has a significant impact on the pace of power market liberalization process; and as its size gets larger, so does its influence. Our results also imply that countries receiving foreign financial support are more likely to liberalize their electricity markets, which underlines the point that reforms may not be always voluntary. In addition, our findings suggest that government ideology is one of the determinants of the progress in electricity market reform process. Finally, the paper also questions whether politicians' education and profession matter for the electricity market reforms. Overall, the results show they do.
As a member of the European Union, Greece has committed to achieve ambitious targets for the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in gross electricity consumption by 2020. Large scale integration of RES requires a suitable mixture of compatible generation units, in order to deal with the intermittency of wind velocity and solar irradiation. The scope of this paper is to examine the impact of large scale integration of intermittent energy sources, required to meet the 2020 RES target, on the generation expansion plan, the fuel mix and the spinning reserve requirements of the Greek electricity system. We perform hourly simulation of the intermittent RES generation to estimate residual load curves on a monthly basis, which are then inputted in a WASP-IV model of the Greek power system. We find that the decarbonisation effort, with the rapid entry of RES and the abolishment of the grandfathering of CO2 allowances, will radically transform the Greek electricity sector over the next 10 years, which has wide-reaching policy implications.
The level of happiness of an individual who accepts the consequences of authoritative policy decisions is a clearly different
concept from the utility that is delivered to the same individual by these policies and it depends on the whole range of elements
that compose the political environment. This paper proposes a formal notion of happiness that is neither identical nor detached
from the notion of utility. Our analysis focuses on how the introduction of new policies or new decision rules in the awareness
of the society might influence the individual and the social level of happiness and, thereafter, the optimal policy choices
of an ideology oriented authority. The main result indicates that a change in the policy (or decision rule) awareness on behalf
of the society might lead to a direct alteration of the authority’s implemented policy. That is, if the society becomes aware
of a "better" policy (in social terms) than the one implemented today, then the authority might need to implement something
"better" for the citizens, even if this "better" policy assigns a lower utility level to the authority.
Over the last decades, the structure of the European Union (EU) electricity sector has witnessed fundamental reform due to the increased complexity in interactions of political, economic and technological forces. The way electricity industry is structured is gradually evolving from vertically integrated state-owned monopolies to unbundled entities that favour free market mechanisms. The scope of this paper is to analyse the main aspects involved in the liberalisation process of the EU electricity industry and determine the progress made in less liberalised countries such as Greece, in terms of competition and regulatory reform. In order to empirically address this issue and inform policy makers, we study in-depth the case of the Greek electricity market by employing the structure-conduct-performance (S-C-P) paradigm.
One of the main targets of power market reforms in the world has been price-cost margins. This paper focuses on this issue by looking at the impact of the power market reforms on the convergence of residential and industrial electricity price-cost margins in diverse countries towards their average value and on cross-subsidy levels between consumer groups. Using panel data for 63 developed and developing countries covering the period 1982–2009, empirical models are developed and analyzed. The research findings suggest that, in most cases, reform process causes price-cost margins in different countries to move towards their average value. Besides, it is found that there is a negative relationship between absolute value of deviation from unit industrial/residential price ratio and the shift towards a competitive market model, meaning that as countries take more reform steps the size of cross subsidy between consumer groups tends to decline. Overall, based on empirical evidence, the study found that application of competitive market models in electricity industries makes electricity price-cost margins converge towards the average and prices more cost-reflective by reducing the size of cross subsidies between industrial and residential consumers, after controlling for industry and country-specific variables. Furthermore, the study suggests that power consumption, income level, electricity losses and country specific features constitute other important determinants of convergence towards average electricity price-cost margin and cross-subsidy levels between consumer groups.
The present paper is concerned with the impact of the internalisation of environmental externalities on energy prices. In this context, its aim is to quantify the external cost of greenhouse gases (specifically carbon dioxide) generated during electricity production in the thermal power plants in Greece and to estimate the impact on the electricity production cost and on the electricity prices of a possible internalisation of this external cost by the producers. For this purpose, this paper applies the EcoSenseLE online tool to quantify the examined externalities. This research finds that the calculated external cost is significantly high (compared to the corresponding production cost) mainly in lignite-fired power plants. Specifically, a possible internalisation of this external cost would increase the production cost by more than 52% (on average), which, in turn, would affect similarly the electricity prices. This finding could be important for decision makers in the electricity sector to develop strategies for emission reduction and to develop environmental and energy policies. The general limitation of the external cost methodology applies to this work as it uses the standard method developed for the Externe project. Similarly, the data limitations as well as assumptions related to the costs and exclusions/ omissions of cost elements affect the results.
For more information see RAE official website: www.rae.gr PPC Strategic Plan
- C Ocana
Ocana C., International Journal of Regulation and Governance 3(1), pp. 13-32
(22). For more information see RAE official website: www.rae.gr
PPC Strategic Plan (November 2007), at:
http://www.dei.gr/Default.aspx?id=3942&nt=18&lang=2
Strategic Plan of PPC (November 2007), at:
http://www.dei.gr/Default.aspx?id=3942&nt=18&lang=2
IEA, Energy policies of IEA Countries – Greece, 2006 Review, 2006, p. 128.
asp Prime minister of Greece: http://www.primeminister.gr Ministry of Development: www.ypan.gr General Secretariat of National Statistical Service of Greece: www.statistics.gr Regulatory Authority for Energy: www.rae.gr Public Power Corporation: www.dei.gr Hellenic Transmission System Operator S.A
- Greek Parliament
Greek Parliament: http://www.parliament.gr/english/politeuma/default.asp
Prime minister of Greece: http://www.primeminister.gr
Ministry of Development: www.ypan.gr
General Secretariat of National Statistical Service of Greece: www.statistics.gr
Regulatory Authority for Energy: www.rae.gr
Public Power Corporation: www.dei.gr
Hellenic Transmission System Operator S.A.: www.desmie.gr