The town of Thessaloniki is getting ready to welcome IENE’s annual SEE Energy Dialogue conference after an absence of nearly three years. Preparations are now moving at break speed rate as the Institute is getting ready to welcome some 65 speakers, moderators and panelists at the Met Hotel where the event will take place. Almost one third of the speakers will join online in what is turning out to be a major hybrid event with more than 200 participants attending in total.The town of Thessaloniki is getting ready to welcome IENE’s annual SEE Energy Dialogue conference after an absence of nearly three years. Preparations are now moving at break speed rate as the Institute is getting ready to welcome some 65 speakers, moderators and panelists at the Met Hotel where the event will take place. Almost one third of the speakers will join online in what is turning out to be a major hybrid event with more than 200 participants attending in total.
The choise of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second biggest city and a major commercial hub and port, to host IENE’ major regional event is not accidental. Because of the city’s excellent location and welcoming tradition it has really caught the hearts and minds of the many participants who over the years have attended religiously this unique energy forum. Their travel mostly by car and plane,thanks to a number of direct connections, coming from Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia -Herzegovina, Skopje, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Turkey and few other countries. They all converge in Thessaloniki for a 2 day close interaction and update on the latest energy developments in the region.
Thessaloniki herself as of late is in the course of becoming a regional gas hub since we have the TAP pipeline crossing from east to west just few kilometres north of the city, when completed in 2023 a new gas pipeline will connect Nea Mesimvria, a metering station north of the city to Skopje, an FSRU plant has applied for licence for installation sometime in 2024 offshore the Port of Thessaloniki and few months ago the Electricity Network Coordination Centre, located within the city, has started operation under EU’s umbrella. And of course there are new power plants located in the city’s western industrial centre along with extensive oil storage facilities and a major refinery. Come to think of it there could be a number of other major energy projects in the pipeline over the next few years, including green hydrogen production units, gas storage and energy storage facilities with the Port of Thessaloniki playing central role in the city’s energy rebirth.
Although this year’s Energy Dialogue brief is much broader than the narrow confines of Thessaloniki it is of interest to take note of the local impact that a well established event as the “SEE Energy Dialogue” may have on a conurbation like this major city of northern Greece. As energy production,supply and use change rapidly in response to the needs and conditions set by energy transition, cities and their periphery will come to play an increasingly important and much greater role with energy efficient solutions emerging as dominant parameters.
