January 23, 2026
by in News

Greece adds 340 MW of wind farms in 2025, acceleration seen for this year

New wind capacity came in at 340 MW in Greece last year, with 76 onshore turbines installed, according to the Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA or ELETAEN).

Installations increased by 6.4% on an annual scale and represented EUR 420 million in investment. Total wind capacity reached 5,695 MW in the country, with HWEA expecting a 900 MW rise in 2026.

Papastamatiou: 2 GW await connection

Based on these numbers, the wind sector appears to be going through rebirth, after several years of low to average installations. Currently, 1.1 GW of new projects are under construction or contracted and the majority is expected to come online within the next 18 months.

Added on top are 200 MW from previous auctions, which took place during the period 2018-2022. HWEA said that even though 1,592 MW was awarded, only 852.4 MW managed to connect to the grid by the end of 2025.

“Right now, about 2 GW of wind farms have an installation license, but have not been completed. Half of those are under construction or contracted. There are also 3 GW who have completed environmental licensing and await grid connection terms. Naturally, there are even more projects that go through the licensing jumble. All of them – especially the most efficient – constitute national wealth and can reduce energy costs for consumers,” said HWEA’s General Director, Panagiotis Papastamatiou.

Terna Energy and Vestas top the charts

The top 5 operators by capacity in Greece are Terna Energy (18.2%), MORE (13.6%), Iberdrola Rokas (7.2%), Principia (6.5%) and PPC Renewables (5.6%).

Vestas has the highest share among manufacturers, 44%. Enercon accounts for 25%, followed by Siemens Gamesa with 15.8% and Nordex, which is at 9.2%.

Notably, the day with the highest hourly wind share in power production was April 28, 2025, when wind farms supplied 97.2%. In total, these units covered more than 50% of the demand for 616 hours of the year.

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January 22, 2026
by in News

Greece adds 340 MW of wind farms in 2025, acceleration seen for this year

New wind capacity came in at 340 MW in Greece last year, with 76 onshore turbines installed, according to the Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA or ELETAEN).

Installations increased by 6.4% on an annual scale and represented EUR 420 million in investment. Total wind capacity reached 5,695 MW in the country, with HWEA expecting a 900 MW rise in 2026.

Papastamatiou: 2 GW await connection

Based on these numbers, the wind sector appears to be going through rebirth, after several years of low to average installations. Currently, 1.1 GW of new projects are under construction or contracted and the majority is expected to come online within the next 18 months.

Added on top are 200 MW from previous auctions, which took place during the period 2018-2022. HWEA said that even though 1,592 MW was awarded, only 852.4 MW managed to connect to the grid by the end of 2025.

“Right now, about 2 GW of wind farms have an installation license, but have not been completed. Half of those are under construction or contracted. There are also 3 GW who have completed environmental licensing and await grid connection terms. Naturally, there are even more projects that go through the licensing jumble. All of them – especially the most efficient – constitute national wealth and can reduce energy costs for consumers,” said HWEA’s General Director, Panagiotis Papastamatiou.

Terna Energy and Vestas top the charts

The top 5 operators by capacity in Greece are Terna Energy (18.2%), MORE (13.6%), Iberdrola Rokas (7.2%), Principia (6.5%) and PPC Renewables (5.6%).

Vestas has the highest share among manufacturers, 44%. Enercon accounts for 25%, followed by Siemens Gamesa with 15.8% and Nordex, which is at 9.2%.

Notably, the day with the highest hourly wind share in power production was April 28, 2025, when wind farms supplied 97.2%. In total, these units covered more than 50% of the demand for 616 hours of the year.

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October 30, 2025
by in News

WindEurope to Greece: Accelerate licensing, reintroduce wind energy auctions

WindEurope has advice for Greece to accelerate wind power installations, given the country’s sluggish performance.

WindEurope expects Greece to add 300 MW of wind capacity in 2025, after 152 MW came online in the first six months. It is an improvement from the mere 108 MW of the entire 2024, but still far below previous years. For example, in 2023, the country added 544 MW of wind power. WindEurope’s Director of Advocacy and Messaging Viktoriya Kerelska has suggested solutions to increase the pace.

Greece needs to integrate the latest version of the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive – RED3 – to facilitate faster and simpler licensing, she said at the Renewable and Storage Forum in Athens.

Other member states are behind schedule with the legislation as well. The European Commission opened infringement procedures in July by sending letters of formal notice to 26 of them – all except Denmark.

Kerelska: Do it like Germany

Furthermore, WindEurope believes that the concept of superior national interest must be applied in Greece, according to Kerelska.

Based on European law, it would allow easier wind farm deployment, while overriding unjustified public reactions that delay the process.

Kerelska added that Germany already applied the principle with great success.

Power purchase agreements (PPAs) are underutilized in Greece.

Therefore, the country should reintroduce wind power auctions, which it held until 2022, for support under contracts for difference (CfDs), according to the association.

One last issue is the delay in the national offshore wind program, which the government has not submitted yet to parliament for adoption, Kerelska noted.

HWEA: Time is running out

Easy times for renewable energy are over, Chairman of the Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA or ELETAEN) Panagiotis Ladakakos said. The sector faces difficult decisions and potential hidden costs, while time is running out to make changes in the regulatory and legal framework, he claimed.

HWEA called on the government to introduce a curtailment allocation mechanism within which curtailed energy would be calculated. Namely, the cuts are not spread evenly, and wind farms connected to the transmission network suffer higher costs. The government has promised to introduce a mechanism by the end of 2025.

The organization said energy storage facilities should be able to have joint grid connection points with renewable energy plants. It referred to projects where the battery’s capability or operating power can be as high as the installed capacity for electricity production.

HWEA added that Greece requires to enact its national offshore wind plan and a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to carry out offshore studies. Moreover, it urged for the development of a new renewable energy spatial plan and more incentives for consumers in areas hosting renewable energy plants.

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September 16, 2025
by in News

Nine times more licenses in Greece than grid capacity

Licensed renewable energy projects in Greece currently stand at about 90 GW. New submissions have been falling sharply.

According to latest data from the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Waste and Water (RAAEY or RAEWW), a total of more than 110 GW has been licensed across all renewable technologies. Photovoltaics have the lion’s share, with 74.4 GW and wind followed with 25.1 GW.

The regulator has already paused or cancelled 41.8 GW of immature or frozen investments, bringing the active total to 76.9 GW. It includes 29.8 GW in wind farms and 44.8 GW in all types of solar.

There also also investments in renewables plus storage, which amount to about 24 GW at various stages. It means that now 92 GW of renewable electricity projects have permits. There is 15 GW in operation, 15 GW with final connection terms, and another 50 GW waiting in line after completing the first regulatory steps. The rest is still at the initial stage.

RAAEY also said available space in the grid is currently 19 GW and that is expected to reach 30 GW by 2030. Therefore, the ratio between potential projects and what the grid can accommodate is about nine to one.

Applications slow down to a trickle

The congestion has been noticed by investors, who have significantly slowed down their applications in recent years. RAAEY’s head of renewable energy and storage Ioannis Charalampidis recalled that in the licensing cycle of December 2020, projects representing 45.5 GW were submitted. This June they were only 1.2 GW.

It is especially evident in photovoltaics, where applications fell from 36.3 GW to some 50 MW. Wind is also affected, with 65% less capacity in submissions than last year

In addition to the large licensing queue, the sector faces delays and red tape. More than three years have passed since the last auction for subsidized renewables projects, from which about 1 GW has not yet been completed.

The sector raises red tape and competition issues

The issue was raised, at RAAEY’s conference last week, by Hellenic Wind Energy Association’s (HWEA or ELETAEN) General Director Panagiotis Papastamatiou. He said the problem lies with small local governing bodies, which either lack the means or the will to do their job properly. He called for centralization, so that one public body can handle the necessary permits.

POSPIEF: “Genocide” for smaller producers

The Hellenic Photovoltaics Union (POSPIEF), which represents small and medium solar investors, spoke of “genocide” in the sector. Chairman Giannis Panagis accused the government of only supporting large producers, leading to distortion of competition and a wave of smaller projects being abandoned or sold. He added that big players enjoy benefits, such as extensions, while small ones are pushed out of the market.

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July 31, 2025
by in News

With 152 MW of wind power installed in H1 2025, Greece continues low trajectory

Just 152.2 MW of wind farms were installed in Greece in the first half of 2025, thus continuing the low trajectory of recent years.

According to the Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA or ELETAEN), total wind capacity in the country reached 5,507 MW at the end of June. In the first six months of the year, 37 new wind turbines were installed in Greece, with a capacity of 152.2 MW, representing a total investment of EUR 180 million.

New capacity doubled compared to the same period of 2024, but is not enough to support a more balanced renewable mix, HWEA said. In comparison, photovoltaics consistently add similar capacity in just one month on average.

The association also mentioned that currently there is 1 GW of wind projects under construction, or contracted. The majority are expected to launch operations within the next 18 months. There is another 300 MW selected through auctions for which letters of guarantee were submitted, and it is expected to reach completion. As a result, total capacity is projected to reach 6.5 GW within the period.

HWEA: Red tape is delaying 846 MW of wind projects

HWEA stressed that due to red tape, the construction of over half of the wind power capacity awarded at renewable energy auctions in the period 2018-2022 has been delayed. Namely, 1.592 MW was selected, but just 746 MW is operational today.

“If they had been completed on time, these wind projects, with a total capacity of 846 MW, would have provided more cheap energy and permanent relief to Greek consumers and the national economy,” HWEA pointed out.

Terna Energy and Vestas lead the pack

When it comes to wind energy’s geographical dispersion, Central Greece (Sterea Ellada) leads with 2.427 MW, followed by 709 MW in the Peloponnese and 535 MW in Eastern Thrace.

The top 5 market players are Terna Energy (1,034 MW – 18.8%), owned by Masdar, Motor Oil Hellas’s subsidiary MORE (774 MW – 14.1%), Iberdrola Rokas (409 MW – 7.4%), Principia (368 MW – 6.7%) and PPC Renewables (308 MW – 5.6%), which operates within state-controlled Public Power Corp. or PPC).

The most prominent wind turbine suppliers are Vestas, with 45.1% of the market, followed by Enercon, with 25.7%, and Siemens Gamesa, with 16.4%. They are trailed by Nordex, with 7.6%, GE Renewable Energy (now GE Vernova), with 3.7%, and EWT, Goldwind and Leitwind.

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April 6, 2025
by in News

Greek renewables sector slams curtailments bill for not including compensation

Power network operators won’t need to compensate renewable energy producers in Greece for curtailments, according to the latest bill of law. It prompted reactions in the renewable energy market.

The bill, submitted for public consultation, received damning remarks from the Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA or ELETAEN) and various other bodies and corporations for the provisions regarding curtailments.

The country’s two operators wouldn’t be obligated to pay compensation. It should be noted that last year curtailments rose by 277% and reached 3.3% of all renewable production in Greece. They are projected to reach new highs in 2025.

The issue primarily plagues larger plants including wind farms, as they have the technical ability to respond to curtailment orders from the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO or Admie). Conversely, smaller photovoltaic facilities connected to the grid of the Hellenic Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO or DEDDIE) have no such telemetering equipment, so they produce freely at all times.

Indeed, Greek authorities aim to make such systems mandatory in smaller renewables plants to be able to curtail them, to maintain system stability, especially during the days of Easter. If an owner fails to make necessary changes, they would be subject to a high penalty, yet to be determined.

Producers point to European law for compensation

HWEA expressed the belief operators should be exempted from compensation only if a proper framework is established that compensates larger producers for curtailments. In practice, it means any revenue collected from the penalties should be used as compensation for other producers.

HWEA: Producer compensation mechanism is necessary

The association added that compensation is obligatory under European law and therefore needs to be included in the regulatory framework.

“The only right way is for the government to conclude the long-awaited framework and introduce a specific producer compensation mechanism,” HWEA pointed out.

Cero Generation Holdings Greece said it is very concerned about proposals for IPTO and HEDNO not to be obliged to provide any compensation.

Curtailment responsibility shifted to aggregators

Another issue concerns the role of renewable energy aggregators, which represent groups of smaller producers in the market. Both HWEA and Elpedison said it is the operators that need to enforce and manage curtailments, and not aggregators, as in the proposed law.

With such measures, aggregators will face increased costs as well as the possibility of having their license recalled if they cannot carry out their new duties, the company pointed out.

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