Upon the invitation of Mr. Rashad Mabger, Secretary General of the Arab- Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Development, IENE’s Executive Director Mr. Costis Stambolis, participated as a speaker in the Chamber’s 5th Arab-Hellenic Forum which was held in Athens earlier this week, on November 29-30Upon the invitation of Mr. Rashad Mabger, Secretary General of the Arab- Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Development, IENE’s Executive Director Mr. Costis Stambolis, participated as a speaker in the Chamber’s 5th Arab-Hellenic Forum which was held in Athens earlier this week, on November 29-30. The Institute also supported this major business event acting as media sponsor promoting the event among its members. The Forum, which brings together business executives and senior government officials from several Arab countries and from Greece, covered a wide range of topics ranging from marine, port services, tourism and food industries to construction, building materials and energy (see www.arabhellenicchamber.gr for the full programme).
In his presentation in the "construction and energy” panel, which was chaired by IENE’s senior Associate and MEES publisher Dr. Saleh Jallad, IENE’s Executive Director, Mr. Costis Stambolis outlined the "Investment Prospects in Greece’s Energy Sector”. Opening his presentation Mr. Stambolis observed that as Greece is slowly coming out from the worst recession in its history the energy sector is expected to play a key role in supporting a return to economic growth.
Apart from providing much needed infrastructure for the use of different forms of energy (i.e. oil, gas, RES, electricity, energy efficiency and CHP), the energy sector, underlined IENE’s Executive Director, can attract much needed investment for new projects, but also for energy related marketing activities following electricity and gas market deregulation and rising competition.
The ongoing privatization programme of major state controlled enterprises in electricity and gas is attracting strong investor interest if we are to judge from the recent sale of 24% stake of the Electricity Grid Operator (ADMIE) to China’s State Grid for €320 million. Furthermore, Greece is pursuing efforts to exploit its considerable hydrocarbon resources by moving ahead with the award of new concession type exploration licenses and the calling of a new international round next year.
According to a latest analysis by IENE, a total of approx. €27 billion are estimated to be invested on energy infrastructure projects and marketing activities to be implemented in Greece from now until 2025. These will cover:
- the expansion and upgrading of the country’s electricity grid focusing on much needed island-mainland interconnections,
- the expansion of the gas transmission and distribution grid,
- the construction of crucial gas interconnectors for electricity and LNG facilities,
- the addition of new thermal power generation units and several Renewable Energy (RES) installations for electricity and heat generation (i.e. solar PV and solar thermal, wind farms, biomass, small hydro and geothermal).
Further to the above energy related infrastructure business and investment opportunities are to be found in Greece’s fast changing electricity sector. Thanks to EU’s unbundling and liberalization policies this sector it now becoming more competitive with opportunities for new entrants.
There are also considerable opportunities in the fast growing energy efficiency business area.
