"Energy Security, Energy Market Integration and Sustainability in SE Europe" was the key theme of this year's SEE Energy Dialogue, which focused on the serious challenges facing the energy sector in the wider SE European region.
"Energy Security, Energy Market Integration and Sustainability in SE Europe" was the key theme of this year's SEE Energy Dialogue, which focused on the serious challenges facing the energy sector in the wider SE European region.
Supported by some of the biggest and strongest energy groups in the Greece and SE Europe, the 13th SEE Energy Dialogue was held in Thessaloniki on June 16/17 -in hybrid form- by the Institute of Energy for SE (IENE) and attracted some 250 participants both online and through physical presence.
The purpose of this regional event was to bring together senior government officials, top business executives and energy experts from all SEE countries and beyond, and to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas, the networking, and the promotion of cooperation to address the growing global and regional energy and environmental challenges. The two-day forum was attended by more than 65 distinguished speakers from Greece and abroad, including top executives of government agencies, large companies, international and regional organizations, well-known Think Tanks, leading legal and consulting companies, as well as representatives of academia and independent analysts. The conference.
This year’s forum, the special theme of which was “Energy Security, Market Integration and Sustainability in SE Europe”, addressed the tough challenges facing of the region's energy sector. The sessions focused on the topic of energy security and the EU's major effort to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, while maintaining its focus on decarbonation and the goals of the Green Deal. At the same time, the two-day forum examined the high dependence of Europe and especially SE Europe on fossil fuels, the current volatile energy pricing environment, the global concern for the development of sustainable alternatives and the need to promote further carbon-free solutions.
Specifically, on the first day of the conference, the first session thoroughly examined the global and regional situation in the energy market with the participation of John Roberts, Energy Security Specialist, from the UK and IENE Visiting Research Fellow, and Tim Yeo, Chairman, The New Nuclear Watch Institute (NNWI), Member of Parliament and former UK Minister for Energy in the UK, while presentations were made by Apostolos Petropoulos, Energy Modeler in the IEA World Energy Outlook team, Dr. Yurdakul Yigitguden, Independent Energy Advisor and Former Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environment Activities, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and IENE Distinguished Fellow, Prof. Andrey A. Konoplyanik, Adviser to Director General, Gazprom export LLC, Distinguished Fellow, IENE as well as Eugenia Gusilov, Director, ROEC, IENE Partner of Romania.
Most speakers agreed that the causes of the current energy crisis should not be sought in the war in Ukraine alone, but in what has happened in Europe over the past two decades. During this period, too many countries neglected to take measures and policies to ensure their energy security. Instead, they chose to remain captive to imported energy, which was the easiest and cheapest solution. Today, enhancing energy security requires multiple investments, increased domestic energy production in Europe, energy storage and savings, and massive RES penetration.
Of particular interest was the 2nd session on "The War in Ukraine and Europe's Energy Dillemas" in which Prof. Pantelis Kapros, Director of the E3M Lab of the National Technical University of Athens and Chairman of the Scientific Committee of IENE, was the keynote speaker. Prof. Kapros spoke in detail about the role of the EU Green Deal, in the light of recent developments in Ukraine, including the "Fit for 55" package and the REPowerEU. In his speech Prof. Kapros presented some policy proposals related to the REPowerEU plan, which he described as crucial for the EU, in terms of how it can respond to the crisis, while special reference was made to the ambitious plan for the introduction of 40 megatons of green hydrogen before 2030.
In the same session significant interventions were made by Slavtcho Neykov, Chairman of the BoD, Energy Management Institute (EMI), from Bulgaria and Distinguished Fellow of IENE, Dr. Charles Ellinas, Senior Fellow, Global Energy Center, Atlantic Council and Visitor Research Fellow at IENE, as well as Prof. Ionut Purica, Romanian Academy and WEC National Member Committee and Distinguished Fellow of IENE, while the contribution of Dr. Leo Drollas, Independent Energy Consultant and Distinguished Fellow of IENE from the United Kingdom was of exceptional importance. During his speech Dr. Drollas focused on the need to include oil in the dialogue regarding the fuels that will lead us to the Green Transition.
In the session coordinated by Nicholas Farantouris, Professor of the European Chair Jean Monnet in European Competition, Energy and Transport Law and Director of the Postgraduate Program in Strategy, Law & Energy Economics at the University of Piraeus, issues related to the energy transition were extensively discussed. George Kremlis, Keynote speaker, Director of the European Commission (EU) and current Advisor to the Prime Minister on circular economy and island issues, referred to EU's efforts to adapt the energy system to clean energy in order to avoid forthcoming economic shocks. Liana Gouta, Director of Energy Policy and International Relations of the Hellenic Petroleum Group, spoke in the same session, emphasizing the role of liquid fuels in the energy transition and how green liquid fuels could lead the transportation market in the years ahead . This was followed by interventions by Katerina Sardi, CEO and Country Manager of Energean in Greece, as well as of John Vougiouklakis, Director, Strategy of PwC.
Other important sessions of the 13th SEE Energy Dialogue at the end of the first day included the one on “ Diversifying the regional gas market: Alternative Gas Routes, LNG and Biomethane” and the other on “ The War in Ukraine and Energy Security Implications for SE Europe”.Several speakers from European and regional organisations and companies hotly debated the issues involved. They included Dr.James Watson, Secretary General of Eurogas, Boyana Achovski from Gas Infrastructure Europe,George Polychroniou, from DEPA Commercial,Dr.Pantelis Vogiatzis,from EDA Attiki and Theodore Terzopoulos from DEDA in Greece, Theodora Georgieva, from ICGB in Bulgaria,Nicholas Satras from Motoroil in Greece,Robert Bosnjak from Plinacro in Croatia and Milan Zdravkovic from Srbijagas in Serbia, Gokhan Yardim from ADG Natural Gas Consultancy in Turkey,Nikos Katsis from DESFA in Greece, Dr. Thrassy Marketos and Dr.Marika Karayianni senior energy experts also from Greece.
The second day of the forum started with a session that had as a special topic: "Networks, Energy Storage and Innovations for Higher RES Penetration" with Dr. Ioannis Kampouris, Chairman and CEO of the SEleNe CC Regional Electricity Coordinator Center (SEleNe CC) based in Thessaloniki, being the keynote speaker. Dr. Kambouris referred to the importance of regional co-ordination for the improvement of the energy security in Europe and spoke in detail about the steps needed to complete the EU electricity market, which include environmental objectives, RES utilization and completion of the internal electricity market, in the context of the constant policy for Europe in recent decades.
The interventions of the panel members were also important, such as Vesna Borozan, Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering & Information Technologies, Univ. of Sts Cyril and Methodius and member of IENE, from North Macedonia, of Dr. Mustafa Tiris, General Manager, TDinamik Energy, from Turkey, of Stella Zacharia, Head of Energy Policy and Regulation at TERNA Energy, and of Zisimos Mantas, Head of Project Development and Licensing at Motor Oil.
This was followed by a session on: "Energy Efficiency First: Global Dimension and Regional Prospects" moderated by Costas Theofylaktos, Secretary General of IENE and Chairman of the Energy Efficiency Committee, submitting introductory comments, noting that the countries of the Western Balkans are lagging significantly in the modernization of their energy sector. According to Mr. Theofylaktos, in order the goals of the Western Balkan countries for clean energy and renewable energy sources to be achieved by 2030, investments of 15 billion euros in hydroelectric projects or 20 billion euros in wind would be needed. In contrast to the Western Balkans, of particular interest was the point that Turkey has managed to show remarkable performance in the field of RES, tripling, in recent years, its installed capacity, which is now 47 GW, while it has made investments worth 50 billion euros in RES over the last 8-10 years.
In turn, Mr. Psomas, Special Adviser of the Association of Photovoltaic Companies, referred to the extensive possibilities of installing photovoltaics on the roofs of EU buildings to cover up to 25% of the Union's energy consumption. According to Mr. Psomas, small photovoltaics on rooftops can act as a shield to protect consumers from high energy prices, at a time when the war in Ukraine causes turmoil in the global energy market.
Valuable information also emerged from the session on the "Electricity and Gas Market Integration in SEE", which was coordinated by Andreas Petropouleas, Director of Energy Management of ELPEDISON, member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Electricity Committee of IENE. In his introduction, Mr. Petropouleas referred to the need to rebalance the priorities of energy systems towards a more balanced approach that will include their reliability and affordability. Then, the floor was given to Prof. George Ioannou, CEO of the Hellenic Energy Exchange Group (EnEx). Mr. Ioannou referred extensively to the results from the one year of operation of the new market of Target Model in Greece, for which he said that there was a very important change that did not happen in easy conditions at all, but nevertheless, worked and operates successfully. In the same session most important contributions were made by Tamer Emre, Director of Market Operations, Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST), from Turkey, Konstantin Konstantinov, CEO, Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX), from Bulgaria and Milos Mladenovic, Managing Director, South East European Power Exchange (SEEPEX), from Serbia. Between them the above CEO’s offered a panorama of the region’s electricity market and the serious challenges posed by market integration and market compiling.
“ Electricity and Gas Market Integration in SEE” was also discussed in an additional session which included Aleksander Mijuskovic, Chairman of CGES in Montenegro, Professor Pantelis Biskas from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,Mr.Shkelqim Bozgo, head of SEA consulting in Tirana,Antonis Kontoleon, Chairman of UNICEN in Greece,Frederick Bernthaler, head of legal at CEGH in Vienna and Martin Georgiev, CEO of Bulgaria’s National Electricity Company.
Another important session with informative contributions by Thomas Lamnidis,IENE Partner and CEO of LL Law firm in Athens,Kaloyan Staykov from EMI in Bulgaria, Eugenia Gusilov ,head of ROEC in Romania and Nicholas Sofianos, IENE Partner and chair of the Institute’s RES Committee discussed the pressing issues faced by the “ Green Agenda and Decarbonisation Challenges in SEE”
The need for the further development of the hydrocarbon resources in SEE was discussed in detail in a special session entitled, “ Enhancing Hydrocarbon Exploration in SEE” with significant contributions by John Grigoriou, VP Continental Europe Council (CEEC) and IENE Partner,Dr. George Kovacic from Croscorp International in Canada,Nicodemos Nicodemou from CHCC in Cyprus, Dr.John Bassias, Visiting Research Fellow of IENE and Teresa Fokianou, chairwoman of IENE’s Hydrocarbon Upstream Committee.
The two day Energy Dialogue by IENE closed with a round table discussion on the outlook of energy related investments in SEE with the participation of Antonis Koumpias, Associate at KG Law Firm, Slavtcho Neykov Chairman of EMI in Bulgaria,Shkelqim Bozgo, Managing Director of SEA Consulting in Albania and Mihailo Mihailovic, IENE Partner in Serbia.
The conference round up was expertly presented by John Roberts while IENE’s Chairman Costis Stambolis contributed the closing remarks and thanked all speakers and moderators, conference participants and conference sponsors and supporters.
The event was supported by a group of companies as sponsors, including KG Law Firm, one of the leading law firms in Greece, and HEDNO, which were the Strategic Sponsors of the Conference. Hellenic Petroleum Group and MotorOil, the two leading refining groups in Greece, the Hellenic Energy Exchange (EnEx), DEPA Commercial, Elpedison and TERNA Energy participated as sponsors. Also the event was supported by Energean, the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX), the Independent Transmission Operator of Greece (IPTO) and EnSCo. Media partners of the event included energia.gr, energypress.gr, Balkan Green Energy News, New Europe, CEENERGY News and the Hellenic Edition of Foreign Affairs.
