Nine records were broken by the energy market in 2022, which signal not only the transition to green energy but also the shift of consumers to self-production from renewable sources, the rapid weaning from Russian natural gas and the emergence of the country as an energy supply gateway of the Southeast Europe.

Indicative of the level of development of RES is that System and Grid Operators take extraordinary measures during periods such as the current Easter, when energy demand is low and RES production is abundant, in order to protect system stability even going into cuts available energy from the sun and wind.

The milestones achieved by the energy market in 2022 are:

1. Green energy at the top: 2022 according to the Green Tank analysis (https://thegreentank.gr/2023/01/27/admie-december2022-el/) is the first year in history in which electricity energy produced from renewables and large hydro (23667 GWh) exceeded production from natural gas and lignite combined (23534 GWh). This performance was achieved despite the relatively limited contribution of hydropower. In total, RES together with large hydro covered 46.7% of electricity demand in 2022, natural gas 35.4% and lignite 11%.

As Green Tank analyst Nikos Mantzaris points out to APE: “The official figures for 2022 clearly show that the best shield against the energy crisis that peaked last year is the decisive shift to Renewable Energy Sources and savings. Any attempt to extend the life of fossil fuels, especially in power generation, endangers the national economy and the public interest.”

2. Record of installed capacity: The potential of RES (wind, photovoltaic, etc. without PPC’s large hydroelectric plants) broke the 10 gigawatt barrier already last November. According to the official data of DAPEEP (Administrator of RES and Guarantees of Origin, https://www.dapeep.gr/miniaio-deltio-eidikoy-logariasmoy-ape-amp-sithya-oktovrios-noemvrios-dekemvrios-2022/ ) the strength of RES in December reached 10,340 megawatts (of which 4,570 MW wind and 4,895 MW photovoltaic)

3. Photovoltaic installation record: last year saw the highest historical penetration of new solar power generation units as the capacity of PV units from 3,660 megawatts at the end of 2021 reached 4,570 MW in December 2022 (+1,235 MW); always according to DAPEEP. The statistics of the Association of Photovoltaic Companies (https://helapco.gr/wp-content/uploads/Greek_PV_Market_Snapshot_HELAPCO_23Nov2022-1.pdf ) on the development of the market show that the immediately previous record was recorded in 2013 with 1,043 new MW, while the years between which added less than 10 MW.

4. Silver European medal in solar energy: according to a report by Ember (https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/european-electricity-review-2023/ ), the share of photovoltaics in electricity generation in 2022 was 12.6%, a performance that places our country in second place in Europe after the Netherlands.

5. Faster growth of RES compared to the EU: according to the data provided by the Prime Minister’s energy advisor Nikos Tsafos (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nikos-tsafos_renewables-in-greece-faster-growth -than-activity-7049750265222115328-s9j8), in the period 2018-2022 the power of photovoltaics in our country increased by 110% (i.e. more than doubled), against 92% which was the average in the EU while the corresponding power of wind power increased by 70 % (versus 30 % in the EU).

6. 100% penetration: For the first time in the history of the Greek electricity system, the demand on October 7, 2022 for five hours was covered by 100% by renewable energy sources, according to the data of ADMIE (https://www.linkedin.com /posts/ipto-admie_res-cleanenergy-record-activity-6984849204636459008-HI_9 )

7. Citizens turning to green energy. As the Green Tank notes in the Energy Communities Observatory (https://thegreentank.gr/community-energy-watch/), the energy crisis has led citizens, businesses and local communities to use RES to meet their energy needs , either through self-production at an individual level (energy offsetting – virtual energy offsetting) or through collective self-production (virtual energy offsetting by Energy Communities). According to the relevant data, in November 2022 there was a 425% increase in requests to connect virtual energy netting projects from Energy Communities compared to November 2021). In the same period, there was a 62.5% increase (from 499 to 811 applications) in the number of applications for virtual energy offset projects as a whole, i.e. from Energy Communities and other entities (such as farmers, legal entities, etc.). Even greater was the increase in requests for self-production through the net metering mechanism, i.e. the self-production of electricity individually by citizens and businesses. Specifically, applications for such projects increased by 157% and requested capacity increased by 199.5% during the last year (Nov 2021 – Nov 2022).

8. Exceeding the gas saving target: Greece exceeded the European gas consumption reduction target set by the EU for the period from August 2022 to March 2023. The consumption according to the analysis of Green Tank (https: //thegreentank.gr/2023/04/10/gaswatch-mar-el/) decreased by 31.8% compared to the same period of the previous year and by 20.9% compared to the average of the corresponding eight months of the previous five years, surpassing by almost 6 percentage points short of the -15% target set by the European Commission.

9. Greece is a natural gas exporter: According to DESFA data (https://www.desfa.gr/press-center/press-releases/stoixeia-desfa-gia-thn-katanalwsh-fysikoy-aerioy-to-2022 )natural gas exports from the Greek system almost quadrupled in 2022 (+288.68%). This is mainly due to the transit of Liquefied Natural Gas from the Revythoussa station to the wider region and especially to Bulgaria which faced a supply interruption from the Russian Gazprom.