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Overview on new legislative framework for geothermal energy in Greece

Overview on new legislative framework for geothermal energy in Greece Greece Independence Day (source: flickr/ John D. Carnessiotis, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 18 Jul 2019

With the introduction of a new legislation on the principles for the exploration, exploitation and management of Greece's geothermal potential, an overview highlighting details has been issued by international law firm Watson Farley & Williams.

International law firm Watson Farley & Williams has published a research note with details on the new Law 4602/2019 , that sets out the main principles for the exploration, exploitation and management of Greece’s geothermal potential which constitutes an integral part of the National Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 submitted to the European Commission, and sets out the national strategy for the coming years.

With the law a new regulatory framework has been introduced that sets out new parameters in addition to those in the previous regulatory framework, “for the purpose of structuring and organising the effective management of (the geothermal) resources.”

Under the legislation, resources above 90 centigrades are falling under the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, while those “within local interest” and temperatures between 30 and 90 centigrades are falling under the responsibility of the Decentralised (local) administration.

Setting out principals for resources of “national interest” and those of “local interest”, it sets details on leasing, utilisation etc.

For power generation, the report highlights the set reference power tariffs for geothermal energy with a) EUR139/ MWh (around $0.1566/ kWh) for installed capacity equal or less than 5 MW, and b) EUR108/ MWh (around $0.1217/ kWh) for plants with an installed capacity larger than 5 MW.

Under the new legislation, new services are created under the Hellenic Survey of Geology and Mineral Exploration to facilitate the development of geothermal initiatives.

For the full report and details, see link below.

The document can be downloaded here (pdf).