The “green transition” was described as a huge opportunity for Greece by the President and CEO ADMIE, Manos Manousakis during his intervention yesterday at the 7th Athens Investment Forum.

A necessary condition for Greece to take advantage of its abundant renewable potential is to develop its energy infrastructure in a timely manner, said Mr. Manousakis, explaining that in this way our country will be able in the future to commercially exploit the availability of “green » of its power.

He underlined that the networks are absolutely necessary for the transition that needs to happen in electricity generation. On this basis, he added, that ADMIE has increased its annual investment costs tenfold compared to 2017, with the addition of new interconnections and the renewal of critical system equipment. He also noted that a key axis of the Manager’s strategy is the full utilization of all of its infrastructure to create added value, adding that the next bet for ADMIE is the full digitization of system maintenance, so that it is done in a more efficient way and entail even lower charges for consumers.

“The investments that need to be made are too many”, he said characteristically. He explained, however, that although they will require large expenditures, they will ultimately be in the interest of consumers, as with the completion of the energy transformation, the costing of the electricity commodity will change radically and will not be accompanied by current operating costs but only by a lower cost of access to network and storage infrastructures.

As a solution for smoothing energy prices in the short term, Mr. Manousakis proposed demand response, pointing out that ADMIE has already created relevant tools with which it provides high-quality services to industries. In this context, he pointed out that important factors are the transfer of consumption from evening to midday hours and the installation of “smart” meters for domestic consumers.

To de-escalate prices in the medium term, the head of the Administrator focused on international interconnections, projects that he said will support the national strategy for electricity exports from RES, such as the new interconnections with Italy and Albania, the electric corridor promoted by the ADMIE to Germany, as well as a new energy transmission axis planned for Eastern Europe starting in Greece. In addition, he mentioned storage, with a particular emphasis on pumped storage, which, he said, would have a smaller ecological footprint and greater efficiency compared to chemical batteries.

“Having more RES than neighboring countries, in the medium term it is in Greece’s interest to change the import-export balance and to export as much energy as possible. But the most important thing of all is to become energetically self-sufficient. This is Greece’s great opportunity for the first time”, he emphasized, adding that the country, by developing a strong RES portfolio and a dense network of interconnections, will in the coming years gain the ability to offer electric power at a regional level.

Asked about the Greece-Cyprus electrical interconnection, Mr. Manousakis said that the project is progressing smoothly with underwater research underway in the territorial waters of the two states and added that by the end of the year there will be developments at the investment level. Regarding the Cyprus-Israel interconnector, he noted that the cost-benefit study has been commissioned and will be ready within the first quarter of 2025. Regarding the regulatory backlogs that exist on the Greece-Cyprus interconnector, he said it is only a matter of time before they are resolved since there is an interstate agreement and the Republic of Cyprus will have made an investment decision for its participation in the project by the end of November.