• Energy Research
• 7. Clean energy close
• 13. Climate action close
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• University of Piraeus: Dione close

The aim of the present master’s thesis is to represent the evolution of energy markets in the European Union from a fragmented monopolistic structure to a unified competitive form and the way in which a single energy market in the Union is gradually being established, through the adoption of common rules and the development of interconnections. This internal energy market which is named Target Model and constitutes one of the major intentions of the European Union, is being examined from a legal perspective in the following chapters. Specifically, the first chapter of the thesis attempts to represent an overview of the legislative framework that has been adopted in succession by European Commission towards the liberalization and unification of the energy market, namely the four energy legislative packages that have determined the structure and the operation of the European electricity market. In the second chapter we examine the basic forms of power markets depending on their degree of competition, as well as we examine the transformation of the energy markets to mandatory pool systems or power exchange models. The third chapter of the thesis consists of an analytical overview of the Target model operation, which is mainly based on the power exchange model, as well as the coupling of national markets. Chapter four refers to the establishment of the network codes, which have been enacted in order to facilitate and secure the well-functioning of the single market through common rules on market integration, operation and interconnection procedures. In chapter five, a more specific reference to the electricity system of Greece is made, while chapter six consists of a general conclusion over the progress that has been made so far in the energy field regarding the unification of the market, as well as over the obstacles that have to be overcome by European Union in order to finally realize the goal of a fully integrated electricity market.

The Thesis examines the role of incentives, as means of promotion, with regards to their connection with Battery-Electric-Vehicles sales and electric-Mobility growth worldwide. Economic incentives, such as exemptions from purchase tax and VAT among others are discussed and considered strong encouragements and crucial for promoting the purchase and ownership of BEVs. Apart from fiscal and non-fiscal incentives that are typically introduced by countries and are mostly related to purchase incentives such as subsidies, tax benefits and exemptions, infrastructure promotion measures, traffic regulations and other benefits such as free parking, the Thesis evaluates the revolutionary Vehicle-To-Grid technology and its concept applications with the possibility of becoming a motivating factor which could increase the share of BEVs in transportation sector. The V2G concept allows BEV owners to make a profit from owning a BEV while it is connected to the power grid. A sociotechnical analysis of e-Mobility and V2G technology along with a SWOT analysis of e-Mobility in Attica, Greece are performed. The Thesis concludes that the V2G concept, already applied by several countries, apart from the technological challenges it has to overcome, comprises an incentive that could assist in the rapid growth of BEVs, create new business and employment opportunities, promote innovation and partnerships, benefit public health and the environment.

Europe’s building stock is entering a transition phase, becoming an active player in the energy system, controlling, producing, storing, and consuming energy. The explosion of smart technologies enabling a more efficient use of energy in buildings will inevitably redesign the built environment and the linked energy flows. This study attempts to offer a presentation of the legislative framework and targets of EU on energy efficiency and how this policy and long-term strategy affects the national plan of Greece for energy efficiency in building sector. Cases of energy upgrading of residential and office buildings in Greece will be presented and the amount of investment will be assessed in relation to the percentage of energy upgrade. The article concludes framing the five pillars of a smart built environment for EU.

Over the years, islands have become overly dependent and vulnerable to traditional energy lines. Great importance has to be laid down to their energy resources to help them achieve sustainability and energy independence, constituting them self-sufficient. Thus, islands become part of the European energy transition and the zero-emissions EU initiative until 2050. As a consequence of the environmentally friendly directives of the EU, the traditional centralized energy production facilities are gradually being replaced with distributed, heterogeneous, multidirectional, and smart energy systems. Often serve as ‘‘test subjects’’ for new technologies and their performance. As a key figure, the European Commission, encourages research and innovation in the energy field. States and industrial actors have identified islands as key energy transition sites because their distinctive isolation characterizes them compared to main-lands. Therefore, energy routes are to be made to facilitate their needs. Also, these islands can easily, with the available technology, abstain from the traditional production of energy from fossil fuel to emission-free renewable energy sources that could include hybrid models of energy production. The energy transitions should actively work to anchor initiatives solving additionally local concerns and localized issues. Many Islands of the EU, despite having access to renewable sources of energy, still depend on expensive fossil fuel imports for their energy supply. The European Commission has launched the ‘‘Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative’’ as part of the ‘‘Clean Energy for all Europeans’’ package. One of the primary instruments of this initiative is the European Islands Facility (NESOI), which aims to create through innovation and subsidies clean energy projects across the EU islands. Plentiful projects are already underway in the EU and Greece, including the Astypalea project of Volkswagen, the Tilos project, the ESBØ project in Norway and Sweden, and older projects such as the Samsø ...

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία παρουσίαζει το New Green Deal, καθώς κι την ενεργειακή μετάβαση των λιμανιών σε μία νέα εποχή με απώτερο σκοπό τον εκσυγχρονισμό των λιμένων αλλά και την ενεργειακή απεξάρτηση τους από παραδοσιακές πηγές καυσίμων, οι οποίες ρυπαίνουν το περιβάλλον και προκαλούν οικολογικές καταστροφές σε μακροπρόθεσμο ορίζοντα. Το New Green Deal βάζει στόχο την μείωση των ρύπων, την αλλαγή καυσίμων σε όλες των ειδών τις μεταφορές. (Λιμενικές, Αέρος και Στεριάς), αφού η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση μέσω των στρατηγικών της για την βιοποικιλότητα και το περιβάλλον, αναγκάζει όλα τα μέρη του συστήματος να εναρμονιστούν και να συνεργαστούν. Χαρακτηριστικά παραδείγματα είναι ο λιμένας του Ρότερνταμ, του Αμστερνταμ και της Αμβέρσας. Ως προς την μελέτη περίπτωσης του λιμανιού της Ραφήνας, η έρευνα έχει πραγματοποιηθεί μέσω ερωτηματολογίου που μας παραχώρησε το Εργαστήριο Ολοκληρωμένης Λιμενικής Διαχείρισης, στο οποίο προσμετρούνται όλοι οι παράγοντες για την αναβάθμιση αυτού σε σχέση με τις Λιμενικές υπηρεσίες του, τους εργαζόμενους του, αλλά και την περιβαλλοντική διαχείριση των θαλασσίων και ξηρών περιοχών του λιμένα.

With the global population set to continue growing, the demand for energy will steadily increase. Fossil fuel resources are in decline, and their use is associated with environmental destruction. The purpose of this thesis is to highlight the need for massive RES deployment in order to facilitate the energy transition into a coal free future and achieve complete decarbonisation until 2050. But we all know that RES is a capital intensive business. Since not all RES technologies are mature enough, this fact reflects on investments since investors tend to be more reluctant towards new forms of RES technologies. This has made financing the RES arguably one of the biggest problems of the 21st century. During the last years, RES projects were and still are supported throughout EU by support schemes providing security to RES producers, either that comes by FIP regimes or tenders, securing a fixed price on the wholesale market price in order to make RES more competitive. Since prices for RES infrastructure, establishment and equipment have significantly been reduced, the ultimate goal is that support schemes will eventually cease to exist. But of course we are not there yet. So in order to close the gap, the granting of state aid is usually inevitable. And as I say, where there is funding (plus in this case state intervention) there is also the need for state aid control. State aid rules are designed to prevent or limit the capacity of Member States to distort the competitive process and intra-community trade in the EU by granting an undertaking with some economic advantage. The thesis analyzes the role of competition and state aid in the EU energy market, examines all the conditions that make an aid fall within the scope of Article 107 par.1 of TFEU (notion of state aid) and presents all exceptional frameworks under which a state aid shall be deemed compatible with the EU market. Throughout this thesis it is established that there is a need for state aid to contribute even more in the energy transition, which raises the question of how the environmental considerations can be integrated into state aid policy. Last but not least, this thesis also discusses the latest tool of the EU towards tackling energy and climate crisis, which is the EU Green Deal, and its correlation with the state aid regime. It also discusses how the current guidelines (EEAG) allow to be broadened in order to promote coherency with the EU Green Deal objectives. As long as state aid is granted on an absolutely necessary basis with the goal of phasing out subsidies once all negative externalities have been internalized, then the distortion of competition would be kept to a minimum and the market failure linked to negative externalities rectified.

Η αυξανόμενη διείσδυση των ανανεώσιμων πηγών ενέργειας στο ενεργειακό μίγμα και η διαχείριση της συνολικής ζήτησης ενέργειας διαδραματίζουν καθοριστικό ρόλο για την ενεργειακή μετάβαση που αναδιαμορφώνει ουσιαστικά το ηλεκτρικό σύστημα. Μια σημαντική πρόκληση στην πορεία μας τέτοιας μετάβασης είναι η ενσωμάτωση και απορρόφηση αυξημένων ποσοτήτων ενέργειας προερχόμενη από στοχαστικές, ανανεώσιμες πηγές, χωρίς να τίθεται σε κίνδυνο η ασφάλεια και η αξιοπιστία του ηλεκτρικού συστήματος. Για το σκοπό αυτό, η εισαγωγή τεχνολογιών και πρακτικών διαχείρισης ζήτησης αποτελεί βασική λύση. Για να εκτιμήσουμε τον αντίκτυπο της εφαρμογής τέτοιων τεχνολογιών, είναι απαραίτητο να κατανοήσουμε πλήρως τις πολλαπλές πτυχές τους σε ενεργειακό επίπεδο και οποιωνδήποτε άλλων απαιτήσεων χρήσης ενέργειας στον οικιακό τομέα. Αυτή η ολιστική προσέγγιση είναι απαραίτητη για να συλλάβουμε πλήρως τις επιπτώσεις της σύμπτωσης των ενεργειακών απαιτήσεων σε διάφορες χρήσεις εντός μιας οικίας, αλλά και στο σύνολό τους. Ως αποτέλεσμα, η μοντελοποίηση της ζήτησης ενέργειας και η κατανόηση των προφίλ κατανάλωσης στον οικιακό τομέα είναι ζωτικής σημασίας για την ποσοτικοποίηση των πλεονεκτημάτων των τεχνολογιών και πρακτικών διαχείρισης ζήτησης, ειδικά με γνώμονα τους εθνικούς στόχους, στο πλαίσιο των ευρωπαϊκών προσπαθειών για επίτευξη κλιματικής ουδετερότητας έως το 2050. Υπό αυτό το πρίσμα, σκοπός της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι να μοντελοποιήσει την ενεργειακή ζήτηση στον οικιακό τομέα της Ελλάδας. Για να γίνει αυτό, χρησιμοποιείται το υπολογιστικό εργαλείο υψηλής ευκρίνειας «DREEM» (Dynamic high-Resolution dEmand-sidE Management), που παραμετροποιείται σύμφωνα με τα διαθέσιμα ερευνητικά και δημογραφικά δεδομένα για τον οικιακό τομέα της Ελλάδας. Τα αποτελέσματα δείχνουν την ικανότητα του μοντέλου να απεικονίζει με ακρίβεια τα προφίλ ζήτησης για ελληνικές κατοικίες, επισημαίνοντας τις κορυφές φορτίου, για τις τέσσερις διαφορετικές κλιματικές ζώνες στην Ελλάδα, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τις διαφορετικές καιρικές συνθήκες και/ή τα διαφορετικά προφίλ συμπεριφοράς και πληρότητας των κατοίκων. Συνολικά, η παρούσα διατριβή επιδιώκει να αποδώσει μια πρώτη εικόνα της μοντελοποίησης της ενεργειακής ζήτησης που είναι απαραίτητη σε μια σειρά προσπαθειών για τον ποσοτικό προσδιορισμό του αντίκτυπου εφαρμογής διαφορετικών μέτρων ενεργειακής απόδοσης με σκοπό την επίτευξη των αντίστοιχων εθνικών στόχων έως το 2030, παρέχοντας παράλληλα συγκεκριμένες προτάσεις και χρήσιμες πληροφορίες σε ενδιαφερόμενα μέρη από το χώρο σχεδιασμού και χάραξης πολιτικών.

Nuclear energy is reported to possess both good and bad qualities. In particular, it may be used for both the production of weapons and for peaceful purposes. This research aims to discuss both sides, focusing on the game changers of technology and geopolitics; regarding the effects those two can have for the development of the sector. As this research showed, the dynamics of international relations are in stalemate, while the current issues in the management of geopolitics will decide whether a new era of more significance or less importance for nuclear energy will emerge. Nuclear power’s energy mix shareholding is rising steadily but is yet far from reaching high levels in the world energy mix. Some countries abandoned it after tragic accidents occurred like Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 while other strengthened their support, aiming at further developments in the security around of its power generation technologies. Apart from the issues one can note in terms of nuclear power use, the same case does not apply when one is looking into the environmental aspect. It is understood that nuclear power can considerably lower the environmental damage that other forms of energy produce. Therefore, in this thesis we attempt to further elaborate and point out nuclear power’s advantages and disadvantages, on the level of politics, society, and technology bearing in mind society’s emotional terms. In fact, technology plays a huge part in this categorization and it promotes the whole research into a new level of game changing effects that will render nuclear power either more widely accepted and used or completely bottle-necked in today’s low energy mix values.

Energy sector is a very crucial sector for a country as it drives economic development, specific policies and diplomatic moves and it is constantly drawing attention. This thesis is a study of energy security and energy threats of the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, by analyzing factors related to policy, diplomacy, geopolitics, economics and total energy supply. The thesis begins with the state of the art of the literature review of the concept of energy security, and more specifically the definitions of the energy security, its dimensions and its threats are presented. Since there is no global agreement among the academics on a specific definition of energy security, it would be more important to focus on the dimensions of the energy security, because these include many different aspect of this issue. Following the literature review, the countries of the region are presented, which are Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and Libya, with the focus on their energy mix, which proves the importer status of the countries, since these countries depend on energy imports to cover their domestic demand. Moreover, the latest developments in energy, such as the gas discoveries or the possibility of constructing the EastMed pipeline create a new landscape in the region. These give an increasing interest, because of the geopolitical importance of the region. However, there are threats posed to energy security of the countries under study, mainly of political, diplomatic, economic and technical nature.