A one day Conference on «New Power Plants by Independent Power Producers and their Contribution to Greece's Energy System» organized by the Institute for Energy in South East Europe (IENE) on November 10, 2005 was crowned by success. Held in the National Bank of Greece's Theodore Karatzas Building and sponsored exclusively by the Mytilineos Group, one of Greece’s major industrial groups, the Conference took place at a particularly timely moment regarding the new legislative framework promoted by the Greek government to ensure the liberalization of the electricity and natural gas markets, but also the dynamic emergence of new independent power producers.
The event opened with a message from Deputy Minister of Development Mr. George Salagoudis, who praised IENE's initiative and described the government’s plans on new energy legislation, while in her speech Opposition MP, Ms Anna Diamantopoulou, stressed the importance of the liberalisation of energy markets and their contribution to the country's economic and social development.
Addressing the Conference participants, the chairman of the Mytilineos Group, Mr Evangelos Mytilineos, commented on the planning of the energy sector, which also constitutes an important section of the company's broader business plan. «Our vision regarding energy, a vision that has started being implemented,» stressed Mr Mytilineos, «is to contribute to the development process with consequent investments in the electricity generation sector, such as the one that is presently being undertaken in Aghios Nikolaos in Boetia». Mr. Mytilineos also made reference to the lack of a specific energy market framework and how this is causing considerable problems and delays in the realization of investments.
The Conference included the presentation of new power plants: those already functioning due to the initiative of Terna Energy SA (150MW in Thebes) and Hellenic Petroleum (400MW in Thessaloniki), as well as the Mytilineos Group's Energy Complex that is under construction in Aghios Nikolaos in Boetia. According to the presentation by Dr Yannis Desypris, director of the Mytilineos Group's energy sector, the Complex is composed of a 330MW co-generation plant and a second 412MW electricity plant, with a total installed power of 722MW, which corresponds to 7% of Greece's installed power. This Complex will fully cover the energy requirements of the «Aluminum of Greece» plant, while also supplying electricity to the inter-connected system by participating in the Daily Electricity Market. The co-generation power plant's construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2006, while that of the independent power plant will be completed in April 2008.
During his presentation at the Conference, Mr Elias Karydoyannis, mechanical-electrical engineer, spoke of the contribution of the Mytilineos Group's Energy Complex to Greece's energy system. According to Mr Karydoyannis, the Energy Complex presently under construction at Aghios Nikolaos will create a new situation regarding Greece's energy sufficiency and contribute towards introducing a greater balance in the electricity system by supplying energy where it is most needed, that is to say in Southern Greece.
Other speakers at the Conference included Dr Evanghelos Lekatsas, chairman of the Electric Power Transmission System Operators (DESMIE), Mr Dimitris Maniatakis, managing director of the Public Power Corporation (DEI), Prof. Prodromos Efthimoglou, member of the Regulatory Energy Authority (RAE), Mr Dinos Maniatopoulos, chairman of IENE's Energy Policy & Geopolitics committee, and Mr Konstantinos Maroulis, Transmission Manager of the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA). A renowned foreign guest also participated in this special event organized by IENE. Mr Peter Ruehland, vice-president Energy Global Project Finance of the Bayerische Hypo und Vereinsbank AG (Munich), addressed issues relating to the financing of energy projects and electricity plants in particular and the trading of electricity. The Conference's conclusions were presented by Dr Dimitris Papakonstantinou, director of PPC's Strategy & Planning Department and chairman of IENE's Electricity committee, who stressed the important role that independent producers are expected to play in the further development of Greece's electricity system.