The members of the Institute of Energy of Southeast Europe (IENE) and energy sector professionals who participated last Monday (24/10) in a special webinar the Institute had the opportunity to be informed of the latest developments regarding the various approaches to the energy crisis.
The members of the Institute of Energy of Southeast Europe (IENE) and energy sector professionals who participated last Monday (24/10) in a special webinar the Institute had the opportunity to be informed of the latest developments regarding the various approaches to the energy crisis.
The IENE webinar, entitled "Energy Crisis and Prices", attempted, with the participation of a select group of senior executives of energy companies and experts, to shed light on all sides of the evolving crisis, the unprecedented course of prices and its effect on the economy and the consumers.
A main finding of the above online event was the need to disconnect the price of electricity from the price of natural gas and how this can be achieved under the current operating conditions of the market, which is based on the well-known European target model. At the same time, the need to create the conditions required for bilateral contracts between producers and final consumers (PPAs) in the Greek market to be developed, which will allow the development of RES on the one hand and on the other hand the protection of consumers from the strong fluctuation of prices in the Energy Exchange. As pointed out by almost all the speakers, one of the main reasons why such high prices prevail in the Greek market (sometimes the highest in Europe) is due to the fact that all the buying and selling of electricity, contrary to what prevails in other European countries, is carried out through Energy Exchange and therefore the prices are determined by the prevailing System Marginal Price. (SMS)
In his presentation, the professor of Energy Economy of NTUA and Chairman of the Scientific Committee of IENE, Pantelis Kapros, referred to the limited competition in the domestic electricity market, highlighting its high dependence (98.5%) on the Pre-Day Market and advocated a radical change of the architecture of the market at European level, noting that "The current logic of the markets has reached its limits".
The Managing Director for Energy Markets at Elpedison SA and Chairman of the Electricity Committee of IENE, Andreas Petropouleas, argued that there is no need for structural interventions in the Target Model (an opinion shared by PPC executive Alexandra Psirri) and called on the government to "rethink" the taxation of existing surpluses of power producers, considering that it undermines the investment climate.
Following that, the head of UNICEN, Antonis Kontoleon, underlined that the government’s proposal to impose a ceiling on electricity generation for natural gas prices merits attention, as it could lead to a 30% reduction in wholesale prices for everyone, offering a horizon of stable prices for industry. He also called for the removal of disincentives for the immediate conclusion of PPAs between RES producers and industries that can act as a "shield" against the new - more adverse - price environment that will take shape in the coming months, when the fixed electricity contracts of many industries of high energy consumption finish.
Finally, Theodoros Terzopoulos, senior executive of DEDA and Chairman of the Natural Gas-Biomethane & Hydrogen Committee of IENE, referred to the need for domestic gas production and especially to the prospects of biomethane production, in the context of the new higher goals that have already been set by the EU through of the REPowerEU action.
The video from the event is available at IENE’s YouTube channel (see here). The presentations and addresses, as well as the special Analysis and Background Paper prepared for the event by the IENE Analysis and Studies department, are available here.
