The Greek renewables story used to be a licensing story. It is now a system story. With renewable penetration among the highest in Europe, the binding constraints have shifted to what the grid can absorb — and curtailment, storage and connection economics have become the variables that make or break a project's business case.

Key Facts — Verified

  • Greece's revised NECP targets around 80% renewables in the power mix by 2030, with total renewable capacity of roughly 28 GW.
  • The revised plan foresees about 3.1 GW of battery storage and 2.2 GW of pumped hydro by 2030 (revised from earlier, higher battery ambitions).
  • RAAEY Decision E-65/2025 provides the basis for state support to electricity storage projects, explicitly aimed at strengthening system security and mitigating curtailment.
  • The grid cost-sharing mechanism of Article 98, Law 4951/2022 became operational with RAAEY Decision 5577/2025 — nearly three and a half years after the law entered into force.

Why Curtailment Became the Central Question

On high-renewables days, Greek system operators increasingly instruct generators to reduce output: transmission constraints, local saturation and the balance between inflexible supply and demand leave no alternative. For a project financed on P50 production assumptions, uncompensated curtailment is a direct hit to revenue — and lenders have noticed. Curtailment risk now appears explicitly in due diligence questionnaires, PPA negotiations and auction design (including, notably, the curtailment protection contemplated for the coming offshore wind tenders).

The Regulatory Response

Storage support

Greece has run competitive auctions supporting standalone battery storage, and RAAEY's Decision E-65/2025 consolidates the legal basis for storage aid as part of restructuring the licensing of RES and storage projects. The policy logic is explicit: storage absorbs midday solar surpluses, firms evening supply, deepens the balancing market and reduces the hours in which renewables must be switched off.

Grid investment and cost-sharing

The transmission operator's ten-year development plan drives major reinforcement — island interconnections and mainland corridors alike. For projects connecting at high voltage, the cost-sharing framework now in force means connection works that benefit multiple users can be shared rather than borne by the first mover — a material change to connection economics that belongs in every feasibility model.

What This Means for Project Structuring

  • Model curtailment explicitly. Sensitivity cases for curtailment levels should inform debt sizing, PPA pricing and the decision whether to co-locate storage.
  • Allocate curtailment risk in the PPA. Who bears the loss when output is curtailed — seller, buyer, or shared through deemed-generation clauses — is now among the most negotiated provisions in Greek corporate PPAs.
  • Consider hybridisation. Co-located storage changes the project's market profile and can qualify for support; it also adds licensing, metering and contractual complexity that must be structured deliberately.
  • Interrogate the connection offer. Timing, reinforcement works, cost-sharing eligibility and milestone interaction with EPC obligations deserve the same scrutiny as the tariff.

The Strategic View

None of this is a reason to avoid the Greek market — quite the opposite. Markets that have crossed the integration threshold reward sophisticated entrants: projects designed around flexibility, storage and realistic grid assumptions will capture value precisely because naive projects cannot. The era of "license it and they will connect" is over; the era of system-aware project design has begun.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is renewable curtailment compensated in Greece?

It depends on the legal basis of the curtailment and the project's regime; as a rule, developers should not assume full compensation and should model curtailment scenarios explicitly. Auction design for new capacity — including offshore wind — is expected to include curtailment protection mechanisms.

What storage capacity is Greece targeting?

The revised National Energy and Climate Plan foresees roughly 3.1 GW of batteries and 2.2 GW of pumped hydro by 2030, supporting a power mix of around 80% renewables.

What is grid connection cost-sharing?

Under Article 98 of Law 4951/2022, implemented by RAAEY Decision 5577/2025, the cost of high-voltage connection works that benefit multiple users can be shared among them instead of falling entirely on the first connecting party.

Sources & Further Reading

  1. RAAEY Decision E-65/2025 — see Lexology summary — lexology.com
  2. Greece's revised NECP — Enerdata and Balkan Green Energy News summaries — balkangreenenergynews.com
  3. Reed Smith, "Greece finally implements cost-sharing provisions for high-voltage grid connections" — reedsmith.com
  4. Chambers & Partners, Power Generation, Transmission & Distribution 2025 — Greece — practiceguides.chambers.com

This article provides general information, verified against the cited sources at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal or investment advice.