What Is the Wind Energy Progress in Greece? Prospects and Problems

Abstract

The current chapter first presents a brief historical evolution of Greek power stations since the early 1980s, when the first wind park was created on Kithnos island in 1982. Accordingly, the gradual changes of the corresponding legislative framework concerning the development of wind parks in Greece are described, starting from the first law of 1985 up to the current feed in premium status. Subsequently, the wind potential in the mainland and in the Aegean Sea islands is examined, taking into consideration various long-term data from several official sources. Moreover, the existing wind parks are categorized on the basis of their location (geographical area of installation), wind turbine manufacturer and technology used, examining also the local manufacturing activity related to the wind energy sector. As far as the islands' wind power exploitation is concerned, the major problems related with achieving high wind power penetration in remote or interconnected islands are also discussed. In this context the special case of Crete island, representing a relatively big island micro-grid, is also analysed. Next, the application of wind based hybrid-energy storage solutions in selected Greek islands is also investigated, with special focus on the Ikaria island wind powered-water pumping solution, as well as on the Tilos island EU funded wind/PV-based hybrid power station, including advanced battery storage. The current chapter concludes with the analysis of the current legislation framework for new wind parks, presenting also the wind energy prospects in view of the European-national electrical sector decarbonisation by 2050.