A ministerial panel discussion held during the first day of the “Energy & Development” conference, organized by the Institute in Athens on November 21/22, now in its 26th edition, proved to be one of the highlights of this well attended annual gathering. The energy ministers from 5 countries in the region had participated earlier in the day in the 1st Athens Ministerial Energy Dialogue following an invitation by Greece’s Environment & Energy Minister, Mr. Kostas Skrekas.
A ministerial panel discussion held during the first day of the “Energy & Development” conference, organized by the Institute in Athens on November 21/22, now in its 26th edition, proved to be one of the highlights of this well attended annual gathering. The energy ministers from 5 countries in the region had participated earlier in the day in the 1st Athens Ministerial Energy Dialogue following an invitation by Greece’s Environment & Energy Minister, Mr. Kostas Skrekas.
The ministers who participated in the panel discussion during the IENE conference included the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy of Albania, Belinda Balluku, the Minister of Energy of Bulgaria, Rosen Hristov, the Minister of Energy of Romania, Virgil-Daniel Popescu, the Minister of Economy of Kosovo, Artane Rizvanolli and the Minister of Energy of Greece Mr. Kostas Skrekas.
The purpose of the Ministerial panel discussion, which was expertly moderated by prominent journalist and Foreign Press Correspondent, Mr. John Psaropoulos, was an exchange of views in order to deepen cooperation between the countries in the region during this unprecedented energy crisis. Consequently, the discussion focused on the issue of energy security and the establishment of solidarity mechanisms between the countries of the broader region. Ensuring adequate energy supplies at a time of great geopolitical uncertainty and economic uncertainty dominated the discussion themes.
Speaking during the panel discussion the Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. Kostas Skrekas, said, that the pursuit of the goal of energy security complements the policies of the Green Transition and do not contradict them. He also spoke about the achievements of Greece in promoting RES in the energy mix and underlined that «country is now in the top position of the world ranking regarding the greatest progress in power generation from RES, as well as in the renewable energy investment attractiveness index relative to GDP».
He also spoke about electricity grids, natural gas and LNG infrastructure as well as the policies implemented to conserve energy, which he characterized as pivotal in the path towards Energy Transition, while he pointed out that in a few years from today the country aspired to become a net electricity exporter. Finally, he argued that Greece in spite of earlier difficulties is not lagging behind in exploration efforts to discover commercially exploitable hydrocarbon resources.
For their part, the Ministers from Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Kosovo who participated in the panel highlighted the energy policy priorities they implement in their countries, stressing the problems created by the reduction in the supply of Russian natural gas and climate change. They did not fail, however, to emphasize the advantages and possibilities opened up for their energy systems by the pursuit of "green" policies.
The position of the Minister of Energy of Romania, Virgil-Daniel Popescu stood out as he spoke about the ambitious goals that his country has set in furthering the use of RES and nuclear energy and emphasized that Romania's energy mix is dominated by 40% RES and 20 % by nuclear.
Also, Albania's Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, pointed to her country's heavy reliance on hydropower and highlighted the problems created by the latest drought that lasted for more than nine months.
The ministers from EU countries did not fail to stress that they are in favour of imposing a ceiling on the wholesale price of natural gas, although they emphasized that they are not particularly optimistic about the adoption of the relevant proposal by the European Commission.
The two-day National Conference of IENE was convened under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) and was held at the Divani Caravel Hotel, in Athens.
The main sponsors of the Conference were More Energy, the law firm KG Law, HEREMA, DEPA Commercial, DEDDIE (HEDNO) and TERNA Energy, while the supporters included the companies ENERGEAN, DESFA, Elpedison, NANKO Renewables, Mytilineos and Copelouzos Group. Also, Task Supporters included the Sunlight Group and IPTO, while Media Sponsors were Energia.gr, NE Global, Foreign Affairs, Naftemporiki and EnergyPress.
