However, the slowdown in both the electrification and new applications for self-production projects by citizens, energy communities and other stakeholders, recorded after the switch to the net billing scheme is worrisome, according to the new Green Tank review. The lignite region of Western Macedonia continues to face the biggest problem of limited grid space availability.
The Green Tank’s 7th review on self-production and energy communities in Greece analyses the latest data from the General Commercial Registry (GEMI) and the national Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO) and records the most important developments in the institutional framework and parliamentary scrutiny.
Since October 2024, the transition from (virtual) net metering to (virtual) net billing has proved to play a decisive role. The analysis shows that it brought a stagnation in applications for self-production projects, especially from energy communities, and has also significantly slowed down new applications for self-production projects overall.
At the same time, there has been a positive response to the “Apollon” program, as ten Citizens’ Energy Communities (CECs) have been set up in as many regions to participate in the programme, which aims to cover a large part of the electricity needs of the regions as well as those of vulnerable citizens through the implementation of virtual net billing.
In the context of these developments, the main findings of this analysis can be summarised as follows:
- Energy communities have been reduced: There are currently 1,703 active energy communities of all legal forms operating in Greece, 20 fewer than in the last survey (September 2024).
- New requests for energy community projects have come to a standstill: only 60 new project requests were submitted over the period January 2024 – March 2025 and just 2 of them apply the new scheme of virtual net-billing.
- The share of self-production among electrified projects remains modest: 1,932 energy community projects with a capacity of 1,397.5 MW have been connected. Of these, 1,792 with a capacity of 1,335.7 MW are commercial projects, while only 140 self-production projects with a cumulative capacity of 61.8 MW have been electrified to date (just 4.4% of the total).
- The electrification of energy community projects is slowing down: 2023 saw the electrification of 408 projects (309.9 MW); 299 projects (212.3 MW) were connected in 2024; finally, in the first quarter of 2025, merely 42 projects of 34.4 MW were electrified. Exceptionally, the electrified capacity of self-production projects by energy communities more than tripled during 2024; nonetheless, it remains comparatively low.
- Central Macedonia remains in the lead: the Region of Central Macedonia ranks first with regard to both the number of energy communities (380) and the electrified capacity of energy community projects (353.7 MW).
- The “lignite” Region of Western Macedonia in a difficult “spot”: despite boasting the 2nd highest number of energy communities nationwide (294), this Region also suffers from severe grid space unavailability. There are three cancelled projects for each electrified one; moreover, this Region holds the largest share of cancelled projects that received a notification of inability to connect by the HEDNO (87.4%).
- The institutional changes in self-production have slowed down the pace of requests: following a surge of 21,350 new requests in 2023, new requests dropped to 13,966 in 2024 and were further reduced to just 1,576 in the first quarter of 2025.
- The ‘baton’ of self-production is being gradually passed on to net-billing: since the HEDNO begun accepting requests for projects applying the two new mechanisms in October 2024, 62.2% of the 2,644 new self-production requests nationwide come from projects employing either net-billing (1,529) or virtual net-billing (116).
- Self-production is approaching the 1 GW ‘milestone’: Up until March 2025, 32,955 self-production projects with a capacity of 937.6 MW were connected across Greece; the majority of these projects (871.9 MW) employ photovoltaic systems.
- Self-production requires additional electrical space: The combined capacity of electrified and pending self-production projects amounts to 1,865 MW, thus approaching the 2 GW reserved for self-production projects, by Law 5037/2023.
“Seven years after the founding law on energy communities and while self-produced electricity has become part of the everyday life of many citizens, broadening their participation in the energy transition remains a challenge. The State should strengthen the institution of energy communities and self-production in general, expanding the available electrical space to 3GW, and utilizing national and EU resources to support self-production projects,” said Nikos Mantzaris, policy analyst at The Green Tank.
Notes:
- For the number of energy communities, the data of the GEMI up to April 2025 have been used, while for all other information analysed in this report, the data of the HEDNO up to March 2025 have been utilised.
- You can read the full review entitled “Energy communities & self-production in Greece #7” at this link.
- You can browse the new data on The Green Tank’s Energy Communities & Self-Production Observatory at this link.
