A recent seminar in Thessaloniki, Greece – hosted by Pospief, the Greek association of solar producers – focused on the challenges and growth opportunities in the country’s solar and energy storage markets.
The primary challenge facing Greece’s PV producers is the increasing curtailment of solar power.
Pantelis Biskas, a professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’s Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering, told the Pospief seminar that his team’s research shows Greece will need to curtail between 3.3 TWh and 3.7 TWh of renewable energy in 2026. This represents a roughly 75% increase compared to 2025, when the country curtailed about 2 TWh of green power. In 2024, Greece curtailed only 900 GWh of renewable energy.
Renewable sources, including large hydro, supplied 56% of Greece’s electricity demand in 2025. The country generated around 51 TWh, with about 25 TWh coming from solar farms and wind plants. Curtailment of renewable energy last year accounted for roughly 7.5% of total renewable generation, and this is expected to rise to 12% in 2026.
Pospief President Giannis Panagis said that so far this year, Greece has curtailed 184 GWh of renewables, compared to just 3 GWh in the same period last year. Curtailments typically occur between 9 a.m. (EET) and 4 p.m., primarily affecting PV generators.
Several seminar speakers noted that curtailment figures do not account for periods when the wholesale electricity market operates at zero or negative prices, during which PV generators either receive no payment or must pay to inject power into the grid.
This situation has prompted the transfer of more than 2,200 solar parks over the past two years, according to Panagis.
Thalia Valkouma – president of Faria Renewables S.A., a developer of renewable projects in Greece and abroad – said last year’s curtailments caused roughly 20% revenue losses for Greek PV producers. Many investors and some banks are now pairing PV projects with energy storage to create new revenue streams.
Few domestic banks, however, are willing to finance storage projects. Biskas described visiting three of Greece’s four large systemic banks about energy storage financing; all three declined. He explained that banks lack reference projects for the Greek market and fear profits may plateau after 2030, when the system will have ample battery capacity. He argued that domestic banks will be the last to embrace energy storage.
Greece ran three battery storage tenders in 2023, 2024, and 2025, awarding 900 MW of capacity with subsidy support. To date, none of these projects are operational. Some facilities have been constructed, with tests ongoing to ensure smooth participation in the electricity system and market.
Meanwhile, local investors are focusing on a 4.7 GW program for utility-scale, standalone projects with priority grid connections, operated merchant-style without subsidies.
The Greek government has also allowed battery installation alongside existing or newly planned PV parks. These batteries can charge from solar arrays and feed stored energy into the grid.
The Pospief seminar showed that energy storage is emerging as a solution to increased curtailments and shrinking PV revenues. Batteries can relieve grid congestion, free transmission capacity, and even reduce industrial electricity prices, said Biskas. However, he warned of persistent market risks.
Domestic energy demand has remained flat for several years, despite recent economic and energy crises. Electric mobility penetration is low and is not expected to rise significantly over the next five years. Greece exported about 3 TWh of electricity in 2025 – modest relative to annual demand of 51 TWh. New grid lines connecting the mainland to the islands may raise demand by 2.5 TWh to 3 TWh by 2030, but overall electricity demand is unlikely to change significantly through the decade. Reduced solar curtailments will not come from increased energy demand.
Regulatory uncertainty also poses risks for energy storage, Biskas said. While a framework exists, grid operators, the energy ministry, and the regulator are slow to align and implement common policy goals.
Valkouma agreed, noting that while the energy storage frameworks are established, many critical details remain incomplete. For example, current regulations do not allow aggregators to represent batteries in the energy market.
Greek PV and storage investors are left weighing the best strategies to manage curtailments and considering whether banks will finance batteries amid a slow regulatory process and uncertain market prospects.
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