L 42/94
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
23.2.2022
(a) the integration of Crete into the Greek bidding zone in the electricity wholesale market which would entail high redispatching costs, estimated around EUR 240 million per year by IPTO S.A based on 2019 data; (b) the integration of Crete into the electricity wholesale market as a separate bidding zone.
That appears as a nonsustainable solution for a short term period, since the completion of Phase II, which is expected to take two years, should relieve any structural congestion between the Cretan and the Greek continental electricity network.
(12)
Besides, Crete lacks adequate metering infrastructure to allow a proper integration in the Greek electricity wholesale market before 2023.
(13)
Currently, the retail market in Crete is open to all suppliers active on the Greek market, twenty of which are active in Crete.
Given the fact that the generation costs in the island of Crete are higher than the costs of the Greek interconnected electricity system, Greece, for reasons of social cohesion, opted for the application by the suppliers of a single tariff for each category of customers, throughout its entire territory.
3.
THE REQUESTED DEROGATIONS
(14)
The requested derogations from Articles 6, 7(1), 8(1), 8(4), 9, 10, 11 and 13 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 and from Article 40(4) to (7) of Directive (EU) 2019/944 aim at finding a solution for the operation of the electricity dayahead, intraday and balancing market in Crete.
Such solution would apply during the transitional period of the interconnection of Crete to the Greek continental electricity system.
The derogations will therefore end on the completion of Phase II (9).
(15)
The applicant proposes a ‘hybrid model’ for the transitional period, under which the interconnector between Crete and the Greek continental electricity system will be treated as a balance responsible party in the meaning of Article 2(14) of Regulation (EU) 2019/943.
Such party will act most of the time as a virtual electricity generation unit from the perspective of Crete and a virtual load from mainland perspective, importing electricity from the mainland Greece to Crete.
That flow could be reversed in case of high generation from renewables in Crete, exceeding its load, in order to avoid any curtailment of renewables.
The balance responsible party for the interconnection of Crete will physically connect to the Greek continental system on the high voltage side of the Chania substation.
Its withdrawn or injected electricity to the Greek continental system will be recorded by the metering infrastructure of the HV Chania substation.
(16)
Possible modalities for participation of the virtual Balancing Responsible Entity in the market operated on the Greek continental electricity system have been evaluated by RAE following a public consultation held from 25 May 2021 until 9 June 2021.
(17)
In the proposed ‘hybrid model’, the Greek electricity power exchange HEnEX would submit price-taking electricity bids on behalf of Cretan market parties in the Greek electricity day-ahead and intraday wholesale market, according to ex ante forecasts computed by the IPTO S.A. and the HEDNO S.A.
Greece proposes two options which were submitted to public consultation by RAE from 25 May 2021 until 9 June 2021.
Those two options set out in detail how bidding can be carried out in practice, with or without separation between load and generation.
The two options are the following: (a) Option 1: priority price taking buying or selling orders corresponding explicitly to the electricity quantities for the balance responsible party for the interconnection of Crete will be submitted by HEnEx on behalf of load representatives supplying electricity to end-consumers in Crete, in accordance with their supply percentage ratio calculated ex ante on a monthly basis by HEDNO S.A., as regards forecasted imports in Crete from mainland Greece, or by the Operator of Renewable Energy Sources & Guarantees of Origin (‘DAPEEP’) for renewable electricity, in the rare case of forecasted exports from Crete to mainland Greece;
(9) Greece has not requested a derogation from Article 51 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 (certification of transmission system operators) or from provisions of Chapter VI of Directive (EU) 2019/944 (unbundling of Transmission System Operators).
Indeed, Greece declares that the high voltage assets on the island of Crete, today owned by PPC and operated by HEDNO S.A., will be transferred to the Transmission system operator IPTO S.A., who will then exercise ownership and operation over those assets.
This transfer took place on 1 August 2021, before the start of the commercial operation of the Phase I of the interconnector between Crete and the Greek continental system.