On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, WindEurope and ELETAEN co-organized the workshop on “Grid access for wind farms: Curtailments, grid connection permitting, flexible connections” at the National Gallery in Athens, gathering 200 industry executives from across Europe together with representatives from System Operators, the European Commission, ACER, the Greek Regulator and the Greek government.

The discussions involved representatives from Greek and foreign companies operating in Greece (e.g. from Germany, Portugal, France, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, England etc.), along with wind industry executives who visited Athens for the workshop from France, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom.

Key conclusions from the event include:
1] Several EU countries have established regulatory frameworks aligned with EU Legislation to manage energy curtailments effectively. Greece can adopt similar approaches, building on the good examples of other countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, emphasizing:

• Minimizing curtailments outside electricity markets.
• Ensuring compensation mechanisms in cases applicable as per the EU Regulation.

2] In Greece, curtailments disproportionately affect wind farms. While 60% of renewable projects are connected to the medium-voltage grid, they account for only 20% of curtailments. Addressing these disparities is crucial for market fairness.

3] Curtailments will remain a persistent issue, requiring a mix of policies such as:

• Balanced renewables mix, based on national competitive advantages of each country (e.g., wind in Greece).
• Enhanced grid interconnections and flexibility across Europe.
• Increased energy storage deployment.
• Electrification of economies and societies.

4] The workshop also explored legislation and best practices for flexible grid connections and permitting processes for grid access, highlighting the growing responsibility of grid operators.

You may watch the speech of Panagiotis Ladakakos, President ELETAEN:

You may watch the speech of Pierre Tardieu, Chief Policy Officer, WindEurope:

You may watch the speech of Aristotelis Aivaliotis, General Secretary for Energy:

You may watch the speech of Dimitris Fourlaris, Vice President, Regulatory Authority for Energy, Waste and Water:

You may watch the video of the 1^st Session-Panel with the following participants:

• Susana Fernandez, Head Renewable Regulation CORE Regions & Market Intelligence, Iberdrola Renewables,  from 04:12’ and 1:02:46’
• Jillian Ferris, Head of Networks, Utility Regulator Northern Ireland, UK,  from 06:47’ and 1:08:50’
• Florentien Benedict, Expert Technical Regulation, Stedin DSO Netherlands & Chair for Existing Network Codes, EU DSO Entity, from 15:49’, 1:14:23’ and 1:20:35’
• Stavros Papathanasiou, Head of Committee RES & Grids, Ministry of Environment & Energy,  from 24:36’ and 1:22:42’
• Stella Zacharia, CEO, Optimus Energy RES Aggregator from 43:12’ and 1:32:09’
• Εmmanouil Santorinaios, Infrastructure Policy Officer, EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), from 52 :00’ and 1:35:58’

You may watch the video of the 2^nd Session-Panel with the following participants:

• Alfredo Parres, Vice Chair of WindEurope’s Board, Hitachi Energy, from 03:25’ and 1:33:23’
• Raphael Sauter, Team Leader Electricity, European Commission, from 09:03’ and 56:15’
• Ioannis Margaris, Vice President, IPTO Greece, from 19:34’ and 1:29:50’
• Carmen Longas Viejo, Head of Grid Access Department, Red Eléctrica, TSO Spain, from 32:18’ and 1:09:37’
• Neil Copeland, Connections Strategy Manager, NESO, UK, from 39:48’ and 1:18:10’
• Nikos Tsafos, Chief Energy Advisor of Prime Minister, Greece, from 48:02’ and 1:03:22’

In the afternoon, closed working sessions were held for the corporate members of WindEurope and ELETAEN.

You may watch the video of the first part of the discussion to which the following participants contributed:

• Simon Steen Moeller, Head of International Affairs, ERG SPA, from 06:12’
• Bérénice Crabs, Secretary-General, Belgian Offshore Platform, from 09:48’
• Piotr Kacejko, Professor, Politechnika Lubelska- University, from 14:53‘
• Filip Kušević, Legal Assistant, Renewable Energy Sources of Croatia, from 23:51’
• Sophia Politopoulou, Director of Regulatory Affairs Dpt/ SAG/ CEG, HEDNO S.A., from 30:07’
• Desislava Mateva, Association for Production, Storage and Trading of Electricity, from 50:38’
• Florentien Benedict, from 53:54’

You may watch the video of the second part of the discussion to which the following participants contributed:

• Zuzana Sadlova, European Commission, from 01:58’
• Stavros Papathanasiou, from 12:24’, 20:25’ and 35:07’
• Simon Steen Moeller, from 17:00’ and 33:14’
• Panagiotis Ladakakos, from 19:15’
• Vasiliki Klonari, Director Energy System Integration of WindEurope, from 29:14’
• Bérénice Crabs, from 30:35’
• Papadopoulos Kostas, Country Manager of Hitachi Energy, Greece and Cyprus, from 41:29’
• Lech Kuleszyński, Legal counsel, Polish Wind Energy Association – PWEA, from 46:29’

You can find the presentations of the speakers who used slides below:

Pierre Tardieu’s presentation HERE
Emmanouil Santorinaios’ presentation HERE
Florentien Benedict’s presentation HERE
Jillian Ferris’ presentation HERE

You may read our press release (in Greek) HERE

You may see photographs from the event below.