Experiences with photovoltaic projects subsidized by OPC (Operational Programme for Competitiveness) in Greece Dr. Georgios Vokas, Electrical Engineer Head of Energy Department of ELANET
History of Energy Programs in Greece RES applications started in 1980 by the Greek PPC for the electrification of island communities and remote areas: Experience & Social content. Till 1994 no subsidy programmes for PV applications only a few small PV applications mostly by PPC, Research Institutions, Universities & Monasteries. During 1995-2000 the Operational Energy Programme (OEP) in 2 nd ECSF PV projects did not increased, although subsidies reached 70%! During 1995-2000 the National Development Law (NDL) also did not help the further development of the PV projects. Till 2000 less than 1,5? Wp of PVs were installed all over Greece (period 1980-2000 is included!). OEP and NDL failed to their purpose to increase RES and particularly PV
New Subsidy Tools for RES in Greece In 2001 the European Union s Directive 2001/77 set the Target for Greece: By 2010, RES should cover 20,1% of Greek electricity consumption. Towards to this direction the 3 rd European Community Support Framework (3 rd ECSF) included significant investment motives for Renewable Energy projects. Operational Programme for Competitiveness (OPC) is in Greece today the major tool for obtaining a subsidy of 30-50% for an energy investment (PVs included) of the application. The National Development Law (NDL) has just started promising subsidies from 40% - 50%.
rd ECSF and Energy Actions #1/2 3 rd (3 rd European Community Support Framework) The 3 rd ECSF constitutes an agreement between the E.U. and the Greek Government regarding the targets and priorities set for the utilization of an amount of 22,7 billion for 2000-2006. The 3 rd ECSF permits proposal allowance period 2000-2006 and implementation period till end of 2008. The 3 rd ECSF fo Greece is broken down into 11 National Operational Programmes, among which is the Operational Programme "Competitiveness" (OPC). OPC Actions that subsidise PV applications: 2.1.3, 6.5, 6.3.2, 3.1.1
rd ECSF and Energy Actions #2/2 3 rd (3 rd European Community Support Framework) Energy investments: Energy saving, Co-generation, Substitution of Electricity or Diesel with Natural Gas and all RES applications including PVs. All the following Actions provide public aid to private investments. Actions 2.1.3 and 6.5 refer to Financial incentives for the support of individual energy investments. Action 6.3.2 refer to Financial incentives for the boost of innovative energy investments in Greek islands. Action 3.1.1 refer to Financial incentives for the encouragement of research energy projects and pilot applications.
ELANET in OPC (OPC: Operational Programme for Competitiveness) ELANET is one of the 7 Intermediary Companies that run the OPC on behalf of Ministry of Development (Authority in charge for the implementation of OPC). The Intermediary Companies sign contracts with the Investors and are responsible for the projects development, the subsidies given, etc. ELANET controls and performs audits for all projects developed in Attica and in all Aegean islands. In Photovoltaic projects ELANET is the leading company. Between other PV projects, ELANET controls also the 3 projects of the 3 mobile companies (installation of 250x10kWp stand-alone PV stations all over Greece). ELANET is a non profitable company, created by SEV, EET, POX.
Energy Actions in OPC Basic Concept OPC Actions 2.1.3 and 6.5 are -till today- the major tool for obtaining a subsidy for an energy investment, including PVs. Open for proposals from 2001 to 2006 Projects realisation until 2008. Five calls for proposals have been announced and the projects are under development. Applications for the incorporation of a project in the OPC Programme are evaluated from the Central Evaluation Committee (CEC). The proposals evaluation consists of 3 main parts: A. Audit of typical requirements B. Financial status of the potential investor C. Techno-economical evaluation and viability control The list of successful proposals to be subsidised is announced by MoD. The investors are called to sign a contract with the Intermediary Company.
Steps and Rules of OPC Energy Actions #1 Eligible Companies and Budgets in 2.1.3 and 6.5 Any private law body corporate that does not belong to the public sector Former companies of the public sector that now are converted to corporation (Aktien Gesellschaft), e.g. PPC In Action 6.5 individual persons are also allowed. The lower limit of an investment proposal is set at 44.000 and the upper limit is set at 44.000.000, (corresponds to PV applications from 8kWp-8MWp, considering 5.000/kWp)
Steps and Rules of OPC Energy Actions #2 Subsidies in PV applications in all Actions Percentage of Subsidy Region Actions 2.1.3 & 6.5 Action 6.3.2 (Islands) Action 3.1.1 Thrace (Prefectures of Xanthi, Rhodopi, Evros) 50% 53% * Areas A and B of Central Macedonia and Attica pursuant to Law 2601/1998 as in force 40% 45% * Rest of Greece 45% 50% 50% * * An additional 15% is considered in case of Medium or Small Enterprises
Steps and Rules of OPC Energy Actions #3 Design of the budget of the proposal of the PV application The upper limit on eligible expenditure in PV applications is 8,8k /kwp The eligible upper limits of the following Table. No. 1 2 3 4 5 ELIGIBLE CATEGORY OF EXPENDITURE Main equipment (supply of equipment, software, materials, cost of transportation and installation) Determination of the exploitable energy potential Fees of consultants Auxiliary buildings and infrastructure Training in the use of equipment and software Max. of all supporting expenses (2-5) UPPER LIMIT 100 % 2 % 6 % 8 % 3 % 12 %
Steps and Rules of OPC Energy Actions #4 IMPORTANT NOTES Expenditures are eligible ONLY if they are incurred AFTER the date of the Submission of the proposal. An exception is foreseen only in the case of Energy Audits for the determination of the exploitable energy potential, which is considered as eligible from 1.1.2000 and prior to the submission of the investment proposal. The value-added tax (VAT) is not considered as eligible expenditure.
Steps and Rules of OPC Energy Actions #5 EVALUATION PROCEDURE A. Audit of typical requirements. Among them: eligibility of the legal status of the investor, required licences obtained at the proposal submission phase and the budget thresholds. For projects related to electricity production, the Energy Production Licence by RAE is a prerequisite and a strong asset. For 6.5 the Installation Licence is now needed. B. Financial status of the potential investor. Justification of the ability of the investor to cover the own participation; indicators include financial ratios that regard economical profitability, lending ability, liquidity and relative capital assets. C. Techno-economical evaluation and viability control. The criteria used for marking a proposal are: a) primary energy saving, b) environmental & social consequences, c) credibility and certification of the technology, d) credibility and maturity of the investment, e) internal rate of return.
Steps and Rules of OPC Energy Actions #6 EVALUATION PROCEDURE Phase B: Financial status of the potential investor No. Indicator Definition Historical balance sheets or capability of issuing them with without 1 Economic return (Earnings before taxes and depreciation) / (Total of equity capital) = 0 = 0,1 2 Leverage ratio (credit worthiness) (Equity capital) / (Equity Capital + Debt Capital) = 0,20 3 Liquidity (Current Assets) / (Short-term liabilities) = 1 4 Relative capital level (Equity Capital + Debt Capital) / (Total cost of proposed investment) = 1
Steps and Rules of OPC Energy Actions #7 EVALUATION PROCEDURE Phase C: Techno-economical evaluation and viability control No. 1 2 3 4 5 CRITERION Internal Rate of Return Saving of Primary Conventional Energy Environmental Impact Social Impact Reliability and Maturity of Investment Proposal TOTAL WEIGHTING COEFFICIENT (%) Investment budget = 440.000 20 25 15 10 30 100 Investment budget = 440.000-40 20 10 30 100
Steps and Rules of OPC Energy Actions #8 REIMBURSMENT PROCEDURE A. Interim payment of public aid. Up to 80% of the public aid is paid in installments according to the expenditure incurred and the progress. These are audited by the Intermediate Companies. B. Quittance (Payment in full) of Public aid. The remaining 20% of the total public aid is paid in two months from final acceptance of the project, i.e. after certification of the physical completion of the works, final clearance and performance of the Energy Audit for verification of the results stated in the contract signed with the Intermediate Agent. If the deviation of the achieved Energy Target is: positive or till -20% of the Initial Target all the remaining 20% is paid from -40% till -20% of the Initial Target a part of the remaining 20% is paid even less than -40% of the Initial Target NO 20% is paid
PV projects in Greek OPC PV projects in Greek OPC in numbers CALL / Round SUBMITTED Proposals Power (kwp) APPROVED Proposals Power (kwp) SIGNED Contracts Proposals Power (kwp) 1 st CALL 5 570 3 469 3 469 2 nd CALL A' 7 1.240 1 968 1 968 2 nd CALL B' 4 740 2 726 1 720 2 nd CALL C' 2 390 2 390 2 390 2 nd CALL D' 13 2.430 6 230 4 175 TOTAL 31 5.370 14 2.783 11 2.722
Number of PV projects in Greek OPC 35 31 30 25 20 15 10 5 14 11 0 Submitted Approved Signed Con. Finally, only 35% of the submitted PV projects manage to sign a contract Rejected projects due to: Unstable financial status of the investor Proposals > than 20 kwp with no installation licence Bad proposal quality
Power of PV projects in Greek OPC 6,0 5,37 5,0 (MWp) 4,0 3,0 2,0 2,78 2,72 1,0 0,0 Submitted Approved Signed Con. The 11 signed contracts represent 50% of the Power of the submissions Only 3 approved projects of 60kWp did not manage to sign a contract The duration of the 11 projects is 1-3 years
The 11 PV projects in Greek OPC COMPANY NAME APPROVED BUDGET (k ) APPROVED SUBSIDY (k ) INSTALLED POWER (kw) 1 TIM HELLAS S.A. 10.400,00 4.693,00 968,0 2 VODAFONE S.A. 8.200,00 3.647,36 720,0 3 COSMOTE S.A. 4.004,00 1.767,48 370,0 4 HOLLY MONASTERY M.LAVRA(St.Anna) Mount. ATHOS 494,50 247,25 60,0 5 HOLLY MONASTERY DIONYSIOY Mount. ATHOS 200,76 90,34 20,0 6 HOLLY MONASTERY SIMON PETRAS Mount. ATHOS 793,32 356,99 125,0 7 HOLLY MONASTERY M. LAVRA Mount. ATHOS 95,63 43,03 10,0 8 HOLLY MONASTERY OF KOYDOYMA 162,50 73,13 20,0 9 HELIODOMI S.A. 2.946,44 1.473,22 400,0 10 BOUGAS SCHOOLS S.A. 156,42 70,39 20,0 11 STEELMET S.A. 59,59 29,79 9,0 27.513,14 12.491,98 2.722 Projects 1-8 are stand-alone, and Projects 9-11 are grid connected 75% of the installed power is applied by Mobile Tel. companies, 9% is applied by Monasteries and 16% by private companies with grid connection
Development of the Greek PV market 6 5,30 Installed Power (MWp) 5 4 3 2 1 1,57 2,37 3,25 4,50 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Greece is only in the 9 th place in E.U. in PV installations 3,8 MWp (72%) stand-alone systems 1,5 MWp (28%) grid-connected From 2001-2005 the installed PV power in Greece was quadrupled mainly due to the OPC Since 2001, 87 proposals of 36 MWp have been submitted in Greek RAE 73 of them with 32MWp during the last 10 months 14 of them with 4MWp have a Production Lic.
Milestones of a typical project in OPC Final Acceptance Payment of last 20% Energy Audit 23 24 24 Payment of 80% Acceptance of the Project 21 21 Project realisation 20 Environmental Lic. 16 Sign of Contract 10 Call for sign of Contract 8 Results of the Evaluation 7 Sumbission of proposal 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 M o n t h s
Submitted proposals in Action 6.5 Action 6.5 is already in progress. In the 1 st call were submitted 98 PV projects with a budget of 22,15M. Action 2.1.3 Action 6.5 Rise PV Proposals 31 98 316,1% Total Budget 5,37 M 22,15 M 412,5% INCREDIBLE RISE due to: 1. The New draft Law for RES (under discussion in Greek Parl.) 2. Allowance for individual persons to submit
Thoughts and Conclusions #1 OPE and old NDL failed to boost PVs during last decades. OPC and its Energy Actions (2.1.3, 6.5, 6.3.2, 3.1.1) is still the major tool for the increase of PV applications in Greece, as no generous Feed-in Tariff is in force yet. The experience of running the applications in OPC Actions is very good, in spite of the old non-effective legal framework regarding the PVs. Action 6.5 is already in force with own participation decreased to 15% and subsidies for PV applications rising from 40% - 50% depending on the region of installation.
Thoughts and Conclusions #2 After the 1 st Call of Action 6.5 there is a rise of 316% in PV proposals submissions and a rise of 412% in the Budget. The reasons are the new law for RES, which is expected to be voted and be in force soon and that in 6.5 individual persons were also allowed to submit a proposal. Greece has excellent solar radiation characteristics and thus high solar energy potential to be exploited. Significant factor is also the Greek territory itself, as there are a lot of Greek islands with weak electric systems. High penetration levels up to 15% in Greek islands can be achieved.
Main PV applications in Greece Grid-connected PV systems of PPC in Islands PV system of 100kWp at Kythnos (1983) PV system of 60kWp at Sifnos (1999)
Main PV applications in Greece Navy Lighthouses Transmitters of??? ~70kWp total installed PV power in more than 900 lighthouses in Aegean Sea ~100kWp installed PV power in autonomous communication systems of OTE
PV applications in Greece subsidized by OPC Transmitters of the 3 private Mobile Companies More than 2 MWp at 240 sites all over Greece. These stand-alone systems work excellent in remote areas and substitute diesel generators saving a lot of money from diesel feeding.
PV applications in Greece subsidized by OPC Parking shading with PVs
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