Greece’s position on the energy map, but the policies, tools and investments necessary to achieve the objectives of the green transition, were at the center of the 5th thematic module “Energy, Green Development” organized in the context of of the 3rd Naval Industry Financial Conference.
During the panel, Minister of Environment and Energy, Theodoros Skylakakis, emphasized, among other things, that in 2050 Greece must be energy independent for the first time in its history, expressed the certainty that the country will become a major producer of green energy, referred to the achievement of targets for Renewable Energy Sources and estimated that we are on track for lower prices due to faster progress in renewable energy. Read in detail Th. Skylakakis’ intervention:
Manousos Manousakis (ADMIE): The strategic objective is to make Greece an energy exporter
Outlining the current energy landscape in Greece, Manoussos Manousakis, President and CEO of ADMIE, noted that the country has managed to achieve a very high level of Renewable Energy Sources in its mix, with the strategic objective of becoming an energy exporter.
“For now, however, we are in the transition period in which energy produced by RES has started and is becoming more than demandcertain times, and we are forced to cut power. This is one of the reasons why there is a surplus of renewable energy. The second reason why there may be an excess is that the network we have, the country’s transmission system, does not have the capacity to transport this energy. In other words, to create a similar fluid potential, there is no room for electrical energy from electrical lines and substations, which must pass from where it is produced to reach where it is consumed”, he explained.
Mr. Manousakis highlighted that at the moment there is so much interest in investment that this is expected to happen in the future. “The question, therefore, is what investments must be made to be able to enter the system of additional renewable energy sources that will eventually be exported from Greece as demand is expected to increase in the national energy and climate plan, but not at the same speed at which production will increase.
There, in our opinion, there are two issues that are the key to moving forward, I would say in a slightly more rational way than the way RES has developed so far. One is the zoning of RES (…) The second is to improve the issue of licensing transmission lines and substations to allow these projects to be carried out in a timely manner so that we can accommodate the investment potential that arrives and constantly requests connection to the system”, he said and continued saying:
“As these years go by, at the same time storage units will also enter, which will work in a similar way to the units that generate energy, that is, they will be on the market, they will store the energy that is produced and in another way would be thrown away at times when more energy is produced than demand. And, for example, at night or whenever investors find energy storage to be more economically convenient for them, they will reinject energy into the system by selling what they stored during the day.”
This, he noted, will partially resolve the issue of excess production in relation to demand, but “it will not resolve the grid issue, as we, as system operators, will not manage the storage, but the storage will operate on a market basis”.
Vassilis Tsaitas (HELLENiQ Energy): Development investments of over 4 billion over a decade
In turn, Mr. Vassilis Tsaitas, Financial Director of HELLENiQ Energy Group, raised another dimension in relation to the challenges of the energy transition: security of supply. As I said, this factor, together with sustainability and cost, constitute a triple equation that needs to be resolved.
“Two factors that influence this, and we have seen this recently and will continue to influence it over the next two decades, are at least geopolitics and technology. I think the recent energy crisis in Europe and the Middle East has recently shown that emphasizing one of the three factors, which was traditionally sustainability 3-4 years ago, creates problems and delays in the energy transition. The focus has now changed, very emphatically including both costs to households and industries, and security of supply. This shows us that the energy transition is not essentially a bing-bang, it is a journey where we have to define specific objectives, expectations and how we are going to transition and obviously this is subject to review as conditions change.” he observed.
Furthermore, as I said, the recent crisis also raises doubts about whether and to what extent it is possible to achieve net zero by 2050, which is the objective. “There are challenges regarding the networks that were mentioned, human resources, the funds that were also mentioned and of course investor returns. The objective does not change, obviously humanity will go where it needs to go, but we will have to look again at the means and the way to achieve it. In this context, I think it is important to recognize the role of what we call traditional energy, which is the core activity of Hellenic Energy,” noted Mr. Tsaitas.
As he estimated, “the contribution to the energy mix of hydrocarbons as a whole will continue to be important for the next 15-20 years, at least, it does not appear that it will change substantially as a contribution to the energy mix at a global and domestic level” and ” therefore, we will have to look at how we frame these activities as part of the solution, not the problem.”
“We at Hellenic Energy because we operate in the broadest spectrum of the energy sector, i.e. we produce and trade hydrocarbon molecules, i.e. petroleum products, as well as electrons from conventional and renewable energy sources more in recent years, we have looked at a little more in these two sectors as a whole. For petroleum products there are technologies at various stages of development that we need to reinforce and I will say a little more specifically. The main ones are the decarbonization of refining processes, since refining is an industry like other industries outside the energy sector that is difficult to eliminate, so we need to see how we can fit it into a more sustainable future. And, of course, synthetic fuels, for example hydrogen. We are talking about hydrogen and new solutions when our industry is the largest producer and consumer of compatible hydrogen in the world, so there is know-how. And it is also our companies that have the networks and currently have fuel for transportation. Therefore, it is obvious that the industry will have to take the lead in the production of pure hydrogen, blue, green, any other color, as well as in its distribution, if this is to ultimately prove to be a viable solution for the energy sector. transport, for example, which is the most important,” he said, adding that incentives for sustainable investments in decarbonization are needed.
With regard to Renewable Energy Sources, he highlighted that Greece is an electricity transmission center between three continents and in addition has the natural advantage, having the second highest productivity factor for both wind energy and photovoltaic energy in Mainland Greece. “So it makes sense to invest, and obviously in a company like ours. Therefore, as part of our strategy, we are implementing development investments of more than 4 billion euros during the decade we are going through. Let’s say that these 4 billion are added to the 200 million per year that we are going to spend anyway to continue in our activity, the Stay in Business Capex we call it. The vast majority of these investments are directed towards carbonization of both our existing and new activities”, he emphasized.
Specifically in terms of oil refining and marketing, the objective, he said, “is to decarbonize processes, improve energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint, and of course, maximize yields”. Two indicative projects that are quite long term and that we need to mature commercially and financially are the carbon capture and storage of 900,000 tonnes at our largest refinery, which in itself will reduce our emissions by around 25%. Furthermore, we are also studying solutions for the production of synthetic fuels from the carbon dioxide that we will capture. And at the Thessaloniki refinery, we are looking to make the refinery’s energy needs completely green, that is, from a cable, without going into the grid, to having a dedicated renewable photovoltaic energy cable for the refinery. With battery storage to guarantee the complete electrification of the refinery with green energy and use the surplus in an electrolyte to produce hydrogen and later ammonia”.
“At APE we are already the second largest producer of photovoltaic energy in Greece, with more than 380 megawatts in Greece and Cyprus. In total, we operate in four countries. Our goal is to exceed 1 gigawatt in installed capacity in the next two years and more than two gigawatts in solar and wind power by 2030. And that’s not including our plans for offshore wind. In this way, by implementing these investments, we will achieve the complete decarbonization of the needs of our traditional electrical activity, the development of a new activity with a zero carbon footprint” continued Mr.
Further specifying the group’s objectives, he also mentioned securing important synergies, reducing the net carbon footprint by 50% initially by the end of the decade and reaching net 0 by 2050.