The energy tradition of Western Macedonia and Arcadia, Greece’s lignite regions, has driven local communities to actively participate in the Just Transition through the use of Energy Communities.
Greece’s two lignite regions differ significantly with regard to energy community development and characteristics.
In Western Macedonia, in a period of one year (2022 –2023) 2 new EnComs were established, considerably less than in the period 2020 – 2021 when the 128 were established.
In Arcadia, in a period of one year (2022 –2023), 24 new EnComs were established (from 3 in 2022). However, this increase was not recorded in the lignite region of Megalopolis but in Tripoli (36 active EnCom exist) and in other regions of Arcadia (5 active EnCom exist).
Commercial Projects by Energy Communities
- Western Macedonia: no new project request compared to 2022. In 2023, 821 project requests were recorded of 652.4MW capacity.
- Arcadia: 41 project requests of 9.4 MW capacity in 2023 (from 3 projects of 0.2 MW in 2022) .
- No REC or CEC projects are recorded based on the available data until December 2023 in Western Macedonia and Arcadia.
Western Macedonia:59.6% decrease in the number of electrified projects (from 52 in 2022 to 21 in 2023) and a 61.3% decrease in the electrified capacity (from 34.9 MW in 2022 to 13.5 MW in 2023).
Arcadia: 50% increase in electrified projects (from 6 in 2022 to 12 in 2023) and 109% increase in capacity (from 4.4 MW in 2022 to 9.2 MW in 2023).
Western Macedonia: the electrified capacity of Energy Community RES projects accounts for 22.9% of the total installed capacity of RES projects in the Region of Western Macedonia (Dec 2023).
Arcadia: the electrified capacity of Energy Community RES projects accounts for 9.6% of the total installed capacity of RES projects in the Regional Unit of Arcadia (Dec 2023).
Self-Production by Energy Communities
- Self-production projects refer to the EnComs of Law 4513/2028, while no REC or CEC projects are recorded based on the available data until August 2023 in Western Macedonia and Arcadia.
Western Macedonia: No additional electrified project in the period 2022 – 2023 (34 requests).
Arcadia: a surge in applications for new EnCom projects in the period 2022 -2023 (from 3 to 43)
Western Macedonia: No additional electrified project from November 2022. There remains 1 electrified project of 0.03MW, while 31 applications of 19.9 MW remain pending.
Arcadia: For the first time, virtual net metering projects by EnComs in 2023 were electrified (9 projects of 0.5 MW). None of them in the lignite area of Megalopolis.
- The lignite region of Western Macedonia is ranked seventh among the Regions in terms of requests for self-production projects from EKοιν (34 applications 19.9MW).
- Western Macedonia is the first Region in number and capacity of pending project requests (454 projects, 369.6 MW), and ranks second in projects that have received a notification of inability to connect due to lack of grid (589 projects, 490.7 MW).
- In the period 2022 – 2023 no new application was submitted by EnComs in Western Macedonia for either commercial or self-production projects. However, 316 new requests for self-production projects were submitted by households, farmers and other entities, which shows the shift of interest of citizens towards self-production to cover their own energy needs.