Following a) the publication of Ministerial Decision ΥΠΕΝ/ΓΔΕ/28255/1143 (Government Gazette B' 1248/13.03.2025) "Procedure for the submission of applications for receiving a Final Connection Offer for the installation of individual electricity storage stations, pursuant to par. 2 of article 11D of Law No. 4685/2020 (A' 92)", b) the announcement dated 06.12.2024 and c) the announcement dated 31.01.2025, the Network Operator informs interested parties that, taking into account it had received applications for Electricity Storage Stations (ESS) prior to the issuance of the Ministerial Decision provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 41 of Law No. 5151/2024 — and which, as stated in the first announcement, would not be reviewed until the aforementioned Ministerial Decision was published — the following provisions will now apply regarding the completeness of all ESS applications. Furthermore, we inform you that the procedure for checking the completeness of submitted files has commenced, and as of Wednesday, 23 April 2025, the first notification letters will begin to be sent to applicants.

 

• If an application for an ESS is deemed complete based on the supporting documents submitted within the 10-day application period—either with the initial submission or with additional information voluntarily provided by the applicant during that period—the date of completeness will be considered the date on which the last required document was submitted.

This is subject to the provisions of paragraph (e), subparagraph 2, of Article 3 of Ministerial Decision ΥΠΕΝ/ΓΔΕ/28255/1143, concerning the classification of the application in cases where, based on the capacity of the power plant, an exemption from environmental licensing is applicable. Specifically, a copy of the exemption request submitted by the applicant to the competent authority for the issuance of a Certificate of Exemption(*) from environmental licensing must be accepted by HEDNO and must include a reference to the relevant protocol number. In such cases, a period of 20 days from the initial receipt of the request by the competent environmental authority will be taken into account for determining the application's order of priority.

• If the ESS application is not deemed complete based on the supporting documents submitted within the 10-day application period—whether only with the initial application or with additional information voluntarily submitted by the applicant within that period—then the date of completeness will be calculated as follows: starting from the 11th day of the application cycle, the number of days required to submit the necessary additional information (as requested by DEDDIE in a formal letter) will be added, counting from the date of that letter. This calculation takes into account both:

1. a) the provisions of paragraph (e), subparagraph 2, of Article 3 of Ministerial Decision ΥΠΕΝ/ΓΔΕ/28255/1143, as outlined above; and
2. b) cases where, upon notification by HEDNO, the applicant is required to submit an Environmental Terms Approval Decision (AEPO) or a Standard Environmental Commitment with a date later than that of the original application. In such cases, the application will be assigned the date of the environmental licensing decision if it falls within a 10-day application period; otherwise, it will be assigned the first day of the immediately following application cycle from the date of the decision.

• Supporting documents submitted, or to be submitted, after the 10-day application period—as defined in paragraph 4 of Article 5 of Law No. 4951/2022—will not be considered. In such cases, the applicant will be invited to resubmit the required documents following the issuance of a request for additional information by HEDNO, as described above (i.e., where the application is deemed incomplete based on the documents submitted within the 10-day period).
• A period of 50 days will be provided for the submission of additional information following a letter from HEDNO. Failure by the applicant to provide the additional information within the above deadline will render the application inadmissible.

 

(*) If an application for a Standard Environmental Commitment has been submitted, and it does not concern an ESS request as described in the last subparagraph of paragraph (e), subparagraph 2 of Article 3 of Ministerial Decision ΥΠΕΝ/ΓΔΕ/28255/1143—specifically, in cases involving multiple applications for electricity storage systems with a maximum injection capacity of less than 1 MW, located in adjacent or neighboring areas—then the application for a Standard Environmental Commitment will be treated as a request for a Certificate of Exemption. Accordingly, a period of 20 days from the date of first receipt of the application for the Standard Environmental Commitment by the competent environmental authority will be taken into account for determining the date of completeness.