The Institute’s two day major annual conference, “ Energy & Development 2024” kicked off on Wednesday, November 6 at the Ote Academy premises in Athens to a packed audience. Drawing more than 200 delegates which included highly placed government officials, senior company executives and distinguished academics and a large group of journalists, who attended mainly in person but also online, the first day of the conference covered energy policy, regulatory issues, investments in energy infrastructure, offshore wind and hydrocarbon exploration and production in the East Mediterranean.
Opening the conference the Chairman of IENE underlined the importance of energy security which continues to be most relevant for Greece and SE Europe in view of the prolonged war in Ukraine and the brutal conflict between Israel and the Iran backed proxies. He further referred to the need of uninterrupted energy supplies,competitive fuel prices, smooth market operation and the avoidance of steep price volatility. He further explained the rationale behind the thematic selection for this year’s conference.
The conference started with a keynote address by the energy advisor of the Greek Minister Mr.Nikos Tsafos, followed by a presentation from Greece’s energy regulator Prof.Arhanasios Dagoumas. Other important contributions included introductory statements by Yiannis Yiarrentis, the CEO of the Agency of Renewable Energy Sources and Guarantees of Origin ( DAPEEP), by Dr. Vassilis Gkountis, Director of Market Management at the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) and by Prof.Nikos Vegas, Director General of the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE)
Two highly relevant interventions followed by two Greek Euro MP’s , namely by Prof.John Maniatis MEP from PASOK and Vice President of the S&D Group - Foreign Affairs,Security & Defense, International Energy Security and Cooperation, and by Nikos Farantouris, MEP SIRIZA -PS and Chair Professor Jean Monnet at the University of Piraeus. Opening statements and short presentations were contributed by Mr.George Stasinos, President of the Technical Chamber of Greece, by Dr.Aristofanis Stefatos, CEO of the Hellenic Hydrocarbon and Energy Management Company ( HEREMA, by Miltos Aslanoglou, General Manager of the Hellenic Association of Energy Suppliers ( ESPEN), by Panagiotis Ladakakos, chairman of the Hellenic Wind Energy Association ( EWEA) and by Dr. Stelios Loumakis, President of the Associationof Photovoltaic Energy Producers ( SPEF).
One of the highlights of the contributions during the first day of the conference was the presentation of the recently published World Energy Outlook 2024 report by the IEA. The report was presented in person by Mr.Oskaras Alsauskas, analyst and energy modeller at the IEA in Paris. Following that a group of distinguished energy experts commented upon various aspects of the report and discussed issues related to energy security and energy efficiency. A fair amount of criticism was also expressed focusing on climate related assumptions of the report and the wildly optimistic long term estimates for RES contribution to the global energy mix.
