Representatives of the political leadership, businesses and local communities discussed the critical aspects of decarbonization at the Webinar entitled "The Road to Decarbonization: Problems, Challenges and Opportunities", organized by the Institute of Energy for South-East Europe (IENE) on 18 March 2021. The aim of the event was to contribute to the public debate in view of the government’s unfolding of its ambitious plans for decarbonizing power generation, but also its efforts to attract investment in the affected areas. During the Webinar, the government’s position and its integrated Just Development Transition Plan (SDAM) were unveiled while the views and concerns of local communities were aired as part of a constructive dialogue. The government’s strategy foresees the total decarbonization of power generation by 2028 which means that thousands of workers will become redundant while plans to create alternative employment within a short period of time, say by 2024, cannot be implemented that easily.
The Secretary General for Energy & Mineral Resources at the Ministry for the Environment and Energy, Mrs. Alexandra Sdoukou, opened the event. She referred to the whole range of activities for decarbonization, while emphasizing that this huge project has the personal stamp of the Prime Minister, Konstantinos Mitsotakis. "The undertaken goal is to implement a balanced, sustainable and productive model, where all sectors will contribute simultaneously. This is exactly what the Master Plan does. It sets five development axes for the differentiation of the production model, which are fully compatible with the five policy objectives of the European Union", stressed Ms. Sdoukou. "The Just Transition Development Plan, which is now being implemented for good, is a great opportunity for Western Macedonia and Megalopolis," she added, among others.
Central to the theme of the Webinar was the keynote speech of Kostis Mousouroulis, Chairman of the Coordinating Committee of SDAM, who referred to the work he has undertaken by completing and presenting the "Master Plan for Just Transition of lignite areas", prepared by the Committee of SDAM. Also, of great interest was the presentation of Konstantinos Mavros, CEO of PPC Renewables, where he presented his company's plans for the installation of RES units in the areas under decarbonization.
The Webinar included interventions by MPs and the Mayors from the areas that will be decarbonized. Of particular interest were contributions by the MP of Kozani with New Democracy, George Amanatidis, the Member of Parliament of Kozani with SYRIZA, Ms. Kalliopi Veta, the Mayor of Eordea, Panagiotis Plakentas, the Mayor of Kozani, Lazaros Maloutas and the Mayor of Megalopolis, Athanasios Christogiannopoulos.
The event concluded with a session where specific proposals and ideas were tabled for the development of the affected regions, where senior executives with expert knowledge on the subject participated, including the former head of PPC, Manolis Panagiotakis and the former head of HHRM, Dr. Giannis Bassias, the Director of Energy Management of Elpedison and Chairman of the Electricity Committee of IENE, Andreas Petropouleas, Prof. Manolis Kakaras, SVP Mitsubishi Power Europe and Professor at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and others.
The Conference’s first session was moderated by the Chairman and Executive Director of IENE, Costis Stambolis, while, the other two sessions were moderated by the Secretary General and Chairman of IENE’s Energy Efficiency Committee, Costas Theofylaktos and Haris Floudopoulos, a journalist at Capital.gr.
