The organization of IENE’s Energy
& Foreign Policy one-day seminar that inaugurated the events of the
3rd Energy Week on November 9th was heralded as a big success by the
delegates and diplomats who crowded at the John Kranidiotes
Amphitheatre of the Greek of Foreign Affairs Ministry. The event gave
the opportunity to the two principal policy makers of the country’s
Foreign Energy Policy or “Energy Diplomacy”, Deputy Foreign Minister
Spyros Kouvelis and Deputy Minister of Energy, Environment and Climate
Change, Professor Yiannis Maniatis, to present for the first time in
public their ideas on Greece’s energy policy priorities and challenges.
The event was closely watched by dozens of diplomats and foreign
dignitaries from around twelve embassies, including –inter alia- the
U.S., Russian, Bulgarian, British, French, Italian and Turkish
delegations.
Mr. Kouvelis said that the principal objective of the government is to
pursue a balanced combination of energy diplomacy with “green
development”. The Deputy Minister also expressed the view that in the
Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, which will be held in the coming
December, there will be no legally binding agreement. “The most likely
scenario for us is to reach a politically favourable agreement since
there is not enough time” for a more concrete discussion” Minister
Kouvelis said. Mr. Kouvelis observed that the rapid completion of the
ITGI and Burgas-Alexandroupolis projects remain at the top of Greece’s
foreign policy priorities.
Then spoke Dr. Yiannis Maniatis, the newly installed Deputy Minister
for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change. He began his
presentation by spelling out the country’s seven top policy priorities
that include:
The diversification of energy import sources and routes, as well as the country’s domestic energy consumption mix. The
enhancement of the country’s oil, gas and electricity interconnectors
as well as the expansion of its energy infrastructure. The promotion of constructive dialogue between the states which produce and consume energy The transparency and steady regulation of the functioning of the energy market The reduction in the consumption of energy through the betterment of energy efficiency The penetration of Renewable Energy Sources in the country’s energy mix especially in power generation The transfer of technology and technical know-how
Regarding the extension of DEPA’s supply contract with Gazprom which
expires in 2016 Mr. Maniatis emphasized the government is working with
the aim of achieving its timely renewal, while underlining that Greece
does not face, nor is it likely to face, any problems with the security
of its energy supply. He also noted that Greece should emerge not only
as a hub of energy transit but also of energy trading, something that
could be achieved via the more energetic presence of Greek energy
companies in the region’s emerging, oil, gas and electricity markets.
The main objective of the government, as Maniatis put it, would be “to
normalize our energy dependencies no matter what country they emanate
from”.
Greece, the Deputy Minister said, until now used to simply observe
the developments and not co-define them. That is something the previous
administration did, he underlined. The U.S. ambassador Mr. Daniel
Speckhard underlined that the election of the Obama Administration
signified a major shift in the American policy on issues of Climate
Change. The New administration according ot Mr. Speckhard is determined
to cut CO2 emissions drastically in view of the IPCC Copenhagen Summit.
In order to achieve this target its country stands in favour of
extending a serious amount of financial aid to the under-developed and
developing countries so as to help them share the burden of
transitioning to more ecologically sound energy choices. He underlined
though that the effort must be reciprocal in order to be effective.
The U.S. ambassador also analyzed the major investment in RES
technologies the U.S. government has recently made in order to cover
its expanding energy and electricity consumption needs while stressing
the new efficiency measures introduced by the Obama administration. He
also congratulated the new Greek government of its ambition to raise to
the top of its policy priorities the introduction of “Green Economy”.
In his address former M.P. and Minister Mr. Andreas Andrianopoulos who
is currently heading the Institute for Diplomacy and International
Affairs of the American College in Greece, said that
Burgas-Alexandroupolis is a project that could be completed since no
one is objecting to it, while also noting that no one can criticize
Greece for its decision to joint the South Stream project from the
moment that she was not offered a place in the Nabucco pipeline scheme.
He finally said that South Stream and Nabucco are mutually exclusive
projects since they are both dependent on securing access to
Azerbaijan’s gas resources.
Professor Ioannis Mazis and Dr. George Sgouros of the Geolab
Institute of the Ionian University in Corfu made an interesting
presentation that focused on the geopolitical analysis of energy
developments, based on the existing geological and geophysical data of
oil & gas resources in the area of the Eastern Mediterranean –
Cyprus and the Middle East. Mr.
Alexander Berezikov, former VP of TNK-BP and currently
Deputy Chairman of the Expert Council, Russian Gas Society,
focused his presentation on the need to establish a new Global or at
least Eurasian Regulatory Energy framework Mechanism or Authority that
would be able to replace the deficiencies and drawbacks of the Energy
Charter Treaty, which Russia officially abandoned in August 2009. He
also presented convincing arguments and data projections that disprove
those who support the idea of a medium-term slump in Russian gas
production by noting the development of the resources in the Sakhalin
island and the Yamal Peninsular.
Dr. Michael Myrianthis, the International Affairs Director of
Hellenic Petroleum, presented the company’s extroverted development
strategy in Southeastern Europe that focuses on the modernization of
infrastructure, the creation of new jobs, but also the expansion in the
markets of our immediate region by making special refernce on
Hellenic’s plans to construct a new 60km oil products pipeline called
VARDAX that would connect Hellenic’s OKTA refinery in Skopje with
Pristina and prospectively NIS.
Mr. Panayiotis Gennimatas the
President of AGP Energy Ltd and honorary Vice President of the European
Investment Bank, reviewed the most important developments that have
taken place in the world natural gas markets since 1985, noting the
increased role of crude oil production in the definition of natural gas
prices by the indexing of the product to OPEC’s and non-OPEC’s oil
output. He stressed that as a result of this increased indexing natural
gas price formation got progressively more politicized. Mr. Peter
Poptchev Bulgaria’s Ambassador at Large for International Energy Policy
expressed his certainty that his country did not change its policy
priorities as a result of the July Parliamentary elections. Bulgaria
was and remains in favour of Nabucco, South Stream,
Burgas-Alexandroupolis and the Interconnector Bulgaria – Greece. The
Ambassador also detailed Bulgaria’s contribution on the transition of
Southeastern Europe towards a low-carbon economy via reduced CO2
emissions.
Finally Mr.
Jesper Andersen, Denmark’s deputy head of
Mission in Athens expressed his country’s great expectations for the
upcoming Copenhagen Summit noting that in case of a failure to reach an
agreement the world will be faced with a giant legal and regulatory gap
regarding the availability of means to combat Climate Change. This is
even more important Mr. Andersen noted since the Kyoto Treaty is set to
expire by 2012. He also noted that all counties would have to
contribute in the struggle against Climate Change but with a legally
binding and justifiably defined burden-sharing mechanism between rich
and poor states.
The B2B Event
The 3rd Energy Week concluded
on November 12th with an Energy Business to Business event, a
pioneering for Greek standards, seminar that gave the opportunity to
dozens of industry leaders, scientists, bankers, regulators and
entrepreneurs that focus on the RES & Energy Efficiency business
applications to come in close contact with each other, potential
clients and investors by fielding their work and technologically
related applications. The event started with a series of tutorial-type
presentations by leading market analysts and experts on the recent
technological innovations that have been presented in the field of
Solar and Wind Energy, Co-Generation, Smart Micro-Grids, Waste
Management, Biomass and Liquid Biofuel.
Following the tutorials were a series of detailed presentations
from an array of industry leaders and dynamic new market entrants in
the Greek RES market. From the photovoltaic sector, presentations were
given by Solar Cells, Heliosphera, Martifer και BP Solar and Positive
Energy, from the sector of geothermal and tele-heating applications a
major address was made by ΙΤΑ. TERNA focused on hydroelectric
applications while VESTAS on the wind energy industry. Parallel to the
B2B event a several market players participated in the 4th Energy
Technologies Expo that was also hosted in the Eugeneidion Foundation
within the framework of the 3d Energy Week Events. These companies
included, inter alia, Siemens,
Silcio, Synergy, The Greek Biomass Corporation, ELETEAN, and Sole S.A.
and all the companies which participated in the B2B seminar.
The last session focused on the applications of energy saving
technologies for buildings where Mr. Constantinos Alexopoulos, the
President of the Greek Association of Engineering Consultants,
coordinated the presentations of distinguished scientists, civil and
mechanical that address the issue from a variety of different
parameters such as the technical, financial and political/regulatory
aspects. The ensuing debate analyzed the existing regulatory framework,
examined success and failures of the new technological applications
from Greece as well as from an international level, and discussed the
methodological aspects involved in the effective application of energy
conservation measures. Most panellists recognized that the new
government top priority on issues of energy efficiency would be the
drafting of a law that would enforce the energy accreditation for new
and existing buildings. 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 “3rdEnergy Week”.