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There are two main financial-support instruments that provide substantial public subsidies to RES investment projects (among others):
a) The so-called “National Development Law” (Law 2601 of 1998, currently under revision)
b) The Greek Operational Programme for Competitiveness, one of the eleven (11) National and the thirteen (13) Regional
Operational Programmes, in which the Third Community Support Framework (CSF III ; 2000-2006) for Greece is divided.
These two instruments are detailed below.
NEW National Development Law (3299/2004) Summary
(OLD) National Development Law (2601/1998)
This is a financial instrument-umbrella, covering all private investments in Greece, in all sectors of economic activity. It has a strong regional character, in that the level of public support depends strongly on the particular geographic region, in which the given private investment is planned to materialise. Regions with high unemployment rates and low incomes per capita receive the highest investment subsidies from the State. Investments in RES installations (both electricity- and heat- producing ones) have a special status under Law 2601/98, similar to the one bestowed to other selected categories of investments, such as investments in high technology, environmental protection, etc. More specifically, the main provisions of Law 2601/98 concerning public support of RES investments are as follows:
 40% public subsidy (grant) on the total eligible RES investment cost + 40% subsidy on the interest of loans obtained for the purpose of financing the RES investment
Alternatively, 40% subsidy on the loan interest + 100% tax deduction on the RES investment cost
Level of subsidy (40%) is independent of the RES technology and the geographical region of the country
Required own capital: 40% (min) of the total investment cost
Minimum investment cost required: 176,000 Euro
Maximum subsidy granted: 14.7 million Euro
Maximum investment cost subsidised: 36.7 million Euro
Proposals for private investments can be submitted to the National Development Law 2601/98 at any time and they are evaluated on their own merit, i.e. independently of other submitted proposals. Law 2601/98 does not have any total budget cup, thus there is (theoretically) no limit in the number and budget of proposals that can be funded.
National Operational Programme for Competitiveness (CSF III)
The Measure 2.1 of Subprogramme 2 of the National Operational Programme for Competitiveness (OPC)/CSF III (2000-2006) is devoted entirely to providing State support (grants) to private investments in: a) renewables, b) rational use of energy and c) small-scale (<50 MWe) cogeneration. The total budget of Measure 2.1, for the 2000-2006 period of CSF III, is 1.07 billion Euro, of which 35.6% or 382 million Euro is the public subsidy available to RES/RUE/CHP investments. About two-thirds of the total available subsidy (~ 260 million Euro) are foreseen to be awarded specifically to RES investment projects.
The main provisions of Measure 2.1 of OPC, concerning public support of RES investments, are as follows:
Public subsidy (grant) on the total eligible RES investment cost:
– Wind parks, conventional solar thermal units : 30%
– Small hydro, biomass, geothermal, high-tech solar thermal units, passive solar : 40%
– Photovoltaics : 40-50%
Level of subsidy (%) is independent of the geographical region of the country with the exception of PV
Required own capital : 30% (min) of the total investment cost
Minimum investment cost required : 44,000 Euro
Maximum investment cost subsidised : 44 million Euro
Grants are awarded to RES projects by Measure 2.1 of NOPC following rounds of public calls for RES investment proposals and subsequent competitive evaluation of the submitted proposals (per round).
A RES investment-subsidy programme, very similar to that of Measure 2.1 of OPC/CSF III, also existed in the Second Community Support Framework (CSF II ; 1994-1999) for Greece. This CSF II programme granted cumulatively about 92 million Euro of public subsidies to 78 RES investment projects, having a total budget of about 213 million Euro (i.e. mean subsidy rate ~ 43%) and a total installed capacity of 161 MWe + 102 MWth. This programme was very instrumental in stirring up substantial RES activity and in materialising a large number of commercial-scale RES projects in Greece, particularly in the period 1997-2000.
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