A new bill from the Ministry of Environment and Energy, currently under public consultation until October 24, introduces stricter conditions for data center investments in Greece. The provisions aim to manage grid capacity efficiently while transposing EU Directive 2024/1711 regarding electricity market design.
Financial Guarantees and Criteria
A pivotal element of the legislation is the requirement for bank guarantees amounting to €200,000 per MW to secure a grid connection offer. For instance, a 50 MW facility would require a €10 million guarantee, while a 100 MW project reaches €20 million. The guarantee is reduced by 25% upon signing the connection contract but is forfeited if the project is not electrified on schedule.
Furthermore, for projects connecting to the Transmission System, investors must demonstrate financial robustness. Specifically, the annual turnover of the investor or affiliates in at least one of the last three years must exceed 30% of the development cost, which is benchmarked at €10 million per MW for this process.
Green Energy Mandate and Priorities
New data centers must cover at least 60% of their annual electricity consumption from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) from the start of operations. This can be achieved through:
- Direct connection to power plants
- Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)
- Self-consumption schemes
Priority is given to large-scale projects exceeding 200 MW, provided they cover 80% of their maximum power capacity with energy storage systems (6-hour duration) or dispatchable generation.
Procedures and Deadlines
IPTO (ADMIE) will review grid capacity for new data centers every two months, and RAAEY will maintain a specialized registry. Pending applications have a 12-month window to submit necessary documentation, while projects that have already received a final offer have 5 months from the law's publication to proceed.
