Greece and Italy have taken important steps this summer towards kicking off offshore wind deployment with coming legal frameworks.

GREECE:
The first Offshore Wind Law was passed in end-July, setting the stage for development of the targeted 2 GW offshore wind in 2030 by delineating how sites and support will be allocated.

– Specifics will be defined in decrees by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, and the timing of these will determine when the first auction is held.

– Sites are identified by the authorities through designation of broad development areas, followed by definition of specific installation zones after strategic EIAs and stakeholder consultations.

– Developers must have research permits for the development areas to be eligible for the coming auctions awarding site leases along with 20-year sliding feed-in-premiums.

ITALY:
An updated draft of the FER II decree was circulated in late July. The FER II decree will establish a support regime for offshore wind, which dozens of announced projects around Italy need to move forward. Final approval of the FER II Decree is still pending.

– The updated draft decree encompasses both floating and fixed-bottom wind, as opposed to an earlier draft, which only featured floating wind support.

– CfDs have been extended from 20 years in the old draft to 25 years in the updated draft.

– The capacity of the allocation rounds planned for 2022-2026 has been increased from 3.5 GW in the old draft to 5 GW in the updated draft.