Greece to add 1.36GW of solar in 2022

According to data released by the Greek Photovoltaic Companies Association, the installed capacity of the Greek solar market in 2022 will be three times that of 2021.

According to the preliminary data disclosed to pv magazine by the Association of Hellenic Photovoltaic Companies (Helapco), Greece will add 1.36GW of grid-connected photovoltaic capacity in 2022. Among them, 341.5MW is connected to the Greek transmission grid, and about 1020MW is connected to the Greek distribution grid.

These figures are preliminary as Greece has not officially announced the number of new PV deployments for 2022. Greek renewable energy operator Dapeep has only published figures up to the end of September 2022. Data from Dapeep shows Greece installed a total of 932MW of new PV capacity in the first three quarters of 2022, excluding installations under net metering, which will be announced separately by Greek distribution network operator Hedno.

Helapco's more complete PV market statistics show that net metering systems accounted for only a fraction of the 1.36GW of new installed solar capacity.

In fact, according to Halapco, 109.4MW of net-metered PV was connected to the local grid in Greece, while small independent operators operating independent grids in Greece added another 1.4MW of net-metered PV capacity. Interestingly, the virtual net metering system is included in the 5.4MW of net metering capacity installed on the Greek domestic grid in 2022.

Given that commercial net metering systems have more than double the installed capacity of residential systems, the Greek government hopes to boost the residential solar industry with a new rebate program for residential PV and storage. The government said the new plan would be released soon, possibly before the end of March 2023.

Fixed rates continue to drive growth

The newly installed photovoltaic capacity in 2022 is at least three times the 422MW newly installed photovoltaic capacity in 2021. This includes systems that receive subsidized rates through competitive bidding, small solar plants up to 500kW and net metering systems that receive feed-in tariff subsidies.

Of the new systems connected to the grid, 200 systems or about 20MW of capacity are connected to the low-voltage grid, 1,602 systems or 890MW of capacity are connected to the medium-voltage grid, and about 341.5MW of capacity is connected to the high-voltage grid, Helapco said.

Source: pv magazine