European Commission

The nation elected a new government yesterday, awarding a clear majority to the pro-EU New Democracy party. What could that mean for Greece’s solar sector?

The new credit lines are for the development of on and off-grid renewable energy projects. The European Commission is offering the fund a €40 million helping hand.

The two documents urge member countries to adopt more favorable legislative frameworks to help improve operation of renewables and distributed generation in relation to other energy networks of gas or heat. The new provisions are also expected to facilitate the development of energy communities and aggregators, while opening the market for flexibility services to small power producers.

The €5.4 billion program is expected to spur new growth in large scale PV while also providing incentives for rooftop systems. Originally scheduled for January, the country’s first technology neutral clean energy auctions – which will provide additional incentives EV charging-linked projects – may be held in the months ahead.

An energy finance consultant from the international thinktank has added his voice to demands Theresa May, or her successor, spell out exactly how the decarbonization target will be met, and cited failings on solar as a warning on how not to proceed.

Long awaited – and even longer debated – the 1000 pages of legislation have finally been adopted by all EU institutions. Over the coming 18 months, there will be changes, some big, some small, to the markets in Europe. Across the continent, the renewable energy industry is likely to benefit.

The grouping, which includes UAE-based Masdar and Moroccan independent power producer Green of Africa, is planning to begin construction this year. The project is among those realized by the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy, as part of the Noor Solar Plan to develop a minimum 2 GW of capacity by next year.

The utility claims that current market conditions are not ideal for the project, which has been under consideration since 2012. The power station was meant to replace existing lignite capacity, and according to RWE, it would have been more efficient. The company says that it will refrain from making further investments in coal capacity while increasing its focus on renewable energy and storage.

The European Parliament has approved the final four pieces of legislation in a proposal from the European Commission. With that, the Clean Energy for All Package is now complete and is only waiting for support from the Council of Ministers.

Under its Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the bloc has opened another call for applications to build cross-border energy infrastructure projects. It has already agreed to provide a grant of €323 million to synchronize the regional grid in the Baltic States.