With the participation of over 350 delegates, IENE’s 14th Annual National Conference on “Energy & Development” was successfully held in Athens on November 10th - 11th. Among the participants one could find representatives of the top Greek energy companies, senior executives and officials from international organizations in Europe and beyond. The conference was opened by the Chairman of IENE Dr. John Desypris and its Executive Director Mr. Costis Stambolis followed by speeches from Prof. Dimitris Lalas, National representative on Climate Change at the IPPC and by Dr. Nicholas Vassilakos, the chairman of the European Federation of Renewable Energy Producers (EREF). Several short presentations followed by representatives of various Greek energy professional associations. The session closed with a keynote speech delivered by the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Ms. Tina Birblili. In her speech the Minister outlined the government’s position on key energy issues and underlined its commitment to RES development. Accordingly she announced her government’s plans for the introduction shortly of a new RES legal framework which is expected to speed up project implementation and help Greece meet its 2020 EU targets on Climate Change.

The second session, which focused on the implementation of energy technologies and investments, consisted of seven presentations given by the Vice President of the Greek Wind Energy Producers Association (ELETAEN), Dr. Panos Papastamatiou, by Dr. Kyriakos Rossis or CRES (Centre for Renewable Energy Sources) by Mr. Antonios Xenios of EEN Hellas, by Mr. John Boukis of HELECTOR S.A., by Mr. Nikolaos Kolyvodiakos of Siemens Hellas, by Dr. Efstratios Kalogyrou of SYNERGEIA. The final contribution was presented by the Executive Director of IENE, Mr. Costis Stambolis and covered the Development of RES technologies and products in Greece assisted by a cluster approach, based on a recent IENE study. The Session was moderated by Prof. Manolis Kakaras of NTUA and a member of IENE’s Executive Committee.

The major common conclusion of the panellists was that the biggest and fastest way to effectuate the penetration of RES into Greece’s energy mix was through the generation of electricity. The discussion that followed also centred on Greece’s ability to develop RES-related technological applications and the need to enhance the allocation of state aid as well as private funds to the relevant technological research institutions. All the speakers agreed that Greece is not merely endowed with a vast RES potential, but also holds a very important basis of researchers and institutions that hold a great promise for the country’s RES development.

The 3rd session which followed focused on international energy developments. The panel was consisted of top-notch speakers from an array of international organizations including the International Energy Agency, which was represented by senior economist Marco Baroni and the European Commission, which was represented by the Director of the Security of Supply Unit Jean-Arnold Vinois. Dr. Leo Drollas the Executive Vice President and Chief Economist of the London-based Center for Global Energy Studies (CGES), Mr. Tsikouras of McKinsey and Professor Pantelis Capros the Chairman of IENE’s Scientific Board also participated in the session making versatile and thoughtful presentations on the issues of –respectively- international oil markets and long-term European energy consumption scenarios.

The speakers focused on recent developments in Europe’s energy and regulatory policies while underlining the importance of the years 2020 and 2030 as the two major deadlines the world economy would have to meet if it is to effectively combat the challenges of climate change. Mr. Baroni, in particular made an in depth presentation of IEA’s latest World Energy 2009 Outlook Scenarios on the future of the global markets in oil, gas, electricity and RES. Special mention was made on IEA’s initiatives in the field of Energy Efficiency as well as the organization’s detailed natural gas review report.

Mr. Evangelos Mytilineos, was the Summit’s keynote speaker during the official luncheon of the conference held on November 11th. In his address the President and CEO of “Mytilineos Group” who is among the pioneers of the Greek private electricity market, made a passionate plea for the structural re-organization of the Greek natural gas and electricity markets that remains a virtual state monopoly nearly six years after its regulatory liberalization. He said that in view of the commissioning of several new CHP power plants that will be running on natural gas with a combined generation output of 5.000-7.000 M.W. gas demand is going to nearly double by 2015.

This demand surge cannot be covered by DEPA alone, he noted, right before he announced his plans to import –outside of DEPA’s market networks- an initial 65,000 metric tons LNG shipment from ENI’s operation in Algeria. The shipment, which is equivalent to 40 million cubic meters, will be consumed in Mytilineos’ CHP plant run by Aluminium Hellas near Agios Nikolaos near Itea on the coast of Delphi. The LNG shipment will act in parallel to its regular natural gas feed it imports from DEPA.

The fourth panel was dedicated to the analytical presentation of alternative natural gas export projects that constitute the backbone of Europe’s Southern Gas Corridor Strategy. First spoke Mr. Jeremy Ellis who made a detailed presentation of the Nabucco project. Mr. Ellis expressed the certainty that the project will move very rapidly once the current impasse between Turkey and Azerbaijan is resolved, a process he considered to be unavoidable. Mr. Ellis impressed the Summit’s delegates by inviting Greece to join in the project as a potential importer via existing infrastructure. Mr. Ellis’s speech constituted the first detailed presentation of the Nabucco project in Greece.

Following the address of the Nabucco representative, Mr. Nikos Katsis of DESFA and Mr.Antonis Natsikas of IGI-Poseidon presented their progress reports on Greece’s two major priority gas pipeline projects, the South Stream and ITGI/IGI. The last speaker, Dr. Theodoros Tsakiris, IENE’s Research Coordinator, analyzed the political and economic pros and cons of every Southern Gas Corridor Strategy alternatives by giving particular emphasis on the strategic utilization of IGB as a conduit of Arab LNG exports to Southeastern and Central Europe. Dr.Tsakiris claimed that Arab and in particular Qatari LNG exports to Europe via Revythousa’s de-liquefaction facility is the cheapest, fastest and most politically secured means of achieving the principal goal of the Southern Gas Corridor Strategy, namely import diversification from Gazprom. The lively debate that followed, under the coordination of Mr.Costas Lamnatos, a chemical engineer and former director general of ELDA (the precursor of Hellenic Petroleum), was a productive discussion on the comparative pros and cons of each of the aforementioned projects.

The last session was dedicated on the latest developments of the Greek electricity market, its problems, challenges and prospective outlook. In the panel, which was chaired by professor Capros, participated Dr. Evagelos Lekatsas, the President of HTSO, Dr. Micheal Thomadakis, the Vice President of the Regulatory Energy Authority, Mr. George Peponis, General Manager of EGL Hellas, Mr. George Kouvaris, Director of Development at HERON Thermoelectric and Andreas Tzouros, Managing Director of ELPEDISON. The subject that dominated the discussion evolved around the criteria defining the system’s marginal price, which constitutes the basic determining factor for the market’s development. The session ended in a fruitful round-table discussion that included – inter alia- the presentation of the Summit’s major conclusions by IENE’s Executive Director Mr. Costis Stambolis.

TERNA ENERGY S.A. was the Leading Sponsor of the “3rd Energy Week”. Other Sponsors included EGL Hellas, VESTAS and Martifer. The Energy Week and its various events were also supported by HELLENIC PETROLEUM S.A., MYTILINEOS HOLDINGS S.A. and TAP AG. The “Kathimerini” Newspaper and “Energia.gr” and “euro2day.gr” web sites were Communication Sponsors of the “3rd Energy Week”.