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Clean energy for EU islands

Greece

Greece flag

Greece has more than 6,000 islands, of which 227 are inhabited. Greek islands are both electrically interconnected and non-interconnected to the mainland. The non-interconnected islands consist of 29 autonomous systems. Crete is one of the most populous islands in the Mediterranean (8,336 km² - 634,930 inhabitants). Besides Crete, there are around 25 medium-sized islands (100-1,000km²) and many small islands (below 100 km²). Greece is currently carrying out interconnection plans, notably for Crete and several Cyclades islands. Of the total population of Greece, 15% lives on the islands. This corresponds to 1,650,000 people. The country is split into 7 regions, of which 2 cover only islands, specifically the region of Crete and the region of Aegean, while another 4 include some islands and parts of the mainland such as Attica, Macedonia and Thrace, Thessaly and Central Greece and Peloponnese, Western Greece and Ionian. The regions plan and implement policies. Public authorities on islands are managed in the same way as other administrative entities in Greece. There are no special cases apart from a reduced VAT on some islands.

Clean energy national targets

The Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan for Greece for  2021-2030 aims to increase the overall share of renewable energy sources (RES) in its gross final energy consumption to 35% by 2030. In the electricity sector, the share of renewables will rise to at least 60% by 2030. In the heating and cooling sector, RES share in gross final energy consumption will rise to 42.5% by 2030 (30.6% in 2020), and RES share in final consumption for transport will rise from 6.6% in 2020 to 19% in 2030.

Factsheet

Greece regulatory factsheet cover
Regulatory factsheet 2021-10-29
Greece regulatory factsheet

Country study

Greece
Study Report 2022-12-14
STUDY - Regulatory barriers in Greece: findings and recommendations

This Study on legal and regulatory barriers for the clean energy transition on Greek islands is the result of a consultative process. Based on an inventory of the current legislation and information...

Country booklet

Greece Booklet
Regulatory factsheet 2023-01-02
BOOKLET: Regulatory barriers in Greece: findings and recommendations

Drawing upon the regulatory inventory of the current legislation, the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat carried out surveys and interviews with Greek stakeholders to identify the barriers to the...

Islands