Solarplaza Summit | Greece

As Greece accelerates its journey toward a cleaner and more resilient energy future, Secretary General Despoina Paliarouta will share insights into the government’s current priorities and long-term vision for renewable energy. Her keynote will explore how national policy is driving the energy transition, advancing investment, innovation, and sustainability, while shaping Greece’s role within the broader European landscape. Drawing on her leadership in energy and infrastructure, she will reflect on the progress achieved so far and outline the opportunities and challenges that will define the next chapter of Greece’s energy transformation.

As Europe moves toward an integrated clean energy system, Greece is emerging as more than just a fast-growing renewables market—it’s positioning itself as a key regional energy hub. With abundant solar and wind resources, rising export capacity, and strategic interconnection projects in development, the country has the potential to become a vital link between the Balkans, the Mediterranean, and Central Europe. This presentation explores the strategic importance of interconnectivity—not only for stabilizing variable renewable generation, but for unlocking new trade opportunities, regional cooperation, and shared resilience. How can Greece fully capitalize on its geographic and resource advantages? And what will it take to turn interconnection into investment, innovation, and influence?

This keynote presents the authoritative figures on solar PV and energy storage deployment in Greece. Based on HELAPCO's latest data and forecasts, this presentation offers a comprehensive overview of installed capacity, upcoming projects, and annual targets through 2030—setting the stage for informed discussion throughout the day.

After a record year in 2023, interest in distributed energy in Greece has dipped due to legislative ambiguity and policy inertia. But is the tide turning? With 2 GW of grid capacity already secured for self-consumption and a new EU directive opening the door to shared energy models, distributed generation may be poised for a comeback. This session explores the future of distributed solar and storage—including energy sharing, virtual net metering, and behind-the-meter batteries. Can decentralization provide the resilience and public support that utility-scale projects alone cannot?

With volatility increasing and negative electricity prices becoming more frequent, understanding real market dynamics is key to building a viable business case for storage. This session kicks off with a deep dive into the latest energy price developments across Greece’s key markets: day-ahead, intraday and balancing. Using this data as a foundation, the speaker will explore which revenue streams—energy arbitrage, frequency response, grid services, or PPA add-ons—are currently generating real returns. What combinations are proving bankable today, and which models still rely on assumptions or regulatory support to become viable?

As the solar industry scales and digitalizes, innovation is redefining what solar means. This session explores how emerging technologies, like hybrid solar-plus-storage systems, algorithmic trading, and AI-driven forecasting, are transforming the operations of renewable energy. Solar assets are evolving into intelligent, responsive market participants. With batteries providing flexibility, automation enhancing reliability, and data optimizing dispatch, solar projects are becoming vital in balancing increasingly dynamic energy systems. We’ll examine how automation and AI are shaping the next phase of solar, where strategy is informed by data, and decision-making is real-time. How can Greece harness its renewable potential, market reforms, and digital strengths to lead this transformation and pioneer the next generation of intelligent energy systems?