Licensing of PV systems

The latest legislation about Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Sources, voted by the Greek Parliament last May 2010 (N. 3851/2010, ΦΕΚ 85A, 4-6-2010), simplifies some of the procedures of the existing licensing. Specifically, a production-license or other declaratory-decisions (known as "exception") is no longer required, for photovoltaic systems up to 1 MWp. For photovoltaic systems of more than 1 MWp, a production-license by "ΡΑΕ" is required (and not the Ministry of Environment & Energy as existing before). For systems that require a production-license, installation and operation licenses are also required.

Moreover, an environmental licensing is not required for PV-systems installed on buildings and industrial facilities.

For PV-systems up to 500 KWp, installed on fields, an environmental licensing can be avoided as long as certain conditions are met. The District Administration can confirm that these conditions are met within 20 days. In general, an environmental licensing is required only when these systems are to be installed in NATURA areas, coastal areas (less than 100m from the coastline) and in fields close to another PV-plant which already has been licensed to produce electricity (and the total energy output exceeds 500KWp).

For the installation of a PV-plant no building-permission is required, but only a permission to proceed to minor-scale-interventions by the Department of Urban Planning.