Attempting to free up electrical space for the installation of RES projects that will eventually be constructed and able to Operate, the Ministry of Environment and Energy has included in the draft law that is expected to be voted in the Greek Parliament the following days, a legislative provision that sets strict deadlines for the implementation of projects that  are up to get final grid connection terms or  have secured connection terms the past two years 

Article 132 of the under-discussion law you set the following deadlines for projects that have received connection terms but have not yet signed a contract for connection to the network.  

Specifically, according to par. 2 of the above-mentioned article: 

The Res Producer Certificate automatically ceases to be valid in the following cases.  

1. If, by the expiration date of the installation license (2 years from its issuance) the owner of the RES project has not submitted a Readiness Declaration for electrifying the station or an application to the competent authority in order to receive an operation license. 

1. If the owner of the Project has not accepted the received Final Grid Connection from the Competent IPTO within the time frame of 4 months or has not requested the retention of the letter of guarantee which is deposited at the Competent IPTO. 

1. If after the notification received by the owner of the Project concerning the inability of the station to Connect to the System the interested party either: c) has not requested the retention of the relevant application to receive a Final Grid Connection Offer either b) submit a relevant request for the return of the letter of guarantee. 

The suspension of the validity of the RES producers Certificate is reflected in the Electronic Register and in the geo-information system of RAE and the responsible Administrator releases a) the area, which had been declared as the installation location of this station, and b) the reserved electrical space for the project as bounded by the content of the Final Grid Connection 

In case of termination of validity of the RES producers Certificate according to the above, all permits issued for the station, in particular Environmental Licensing Decisions, acts provided for in the forestry legislation, Final Connection Offers and Installation Permits, shall cease to be valid. 

Furthermore, the new legislative provisions contains the following deadlines for RES projects that have already received Final Grid Connection Terms. 

Thus, for Projects 

1. that have received Final Grid Connection Offer by December 31, 2020, the application for the connection contract shall be filled up by June 30,2023. Otherwise, the RES producer certificate and all the other issued licenses automatically cease. 

1. that have received Final Grid Connection Offer from January 1 to December 31, 2021, the relevant application for the connection contract must be submitted by August 31, 2023, and 

1. that have received Final Grid Connection Offer from January 1,2022 until the 4th of July 2022, the application for the connectivity contract must be submitted by the 31st of October 2023. 

After the expiry of these time limits, the producer’s certificate and all other licenses obtained by the station shall automatically cease to be valid. 

To sum up, the above described legislative provision is the first of a set of measures that the Ministry of Environment and Energy intends to take in order to release critical electricity space that is bound by projects which do not seem to be implemented in a reasonable time frame and as a result their holders keep the licenses as an asset for sale to other investors. 

 The aim of the ministry’s strategy is to unblock the waiting list for receiving Grid Connection Terms and for the competent IPTO To be able in a medium term time frame to grant connection terms within the deadlines set by the legislative framework but which have not been met to date due to the volume of pending requests.