Focusing on the sustainability of investments in Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and energy storage, the multinational energy consulting company Ricardo organized the conference «Challenges in Financing Renewables and Storage in Electricity Markets» on Tuesday, 28 January 2025, at the National Gallery.
Key speakers were Dr. Leonidas Paroussos, CEO of E3 Modelling, Dr. Maria Kannavou, Director of Energy Systems Analysis, Mr. Alexandros Makrysopoulos, Head of Energy Modelling, as well as Professor of Energy Economics at the National Technical University of Athens, Mr. Pantelis Capros.
The event brought together leading executives from the energy sector, investors and media representatives, creating a dynamic platform for discussion on the future of the energy market.
The discussion focused on the key challenges of the renewable energy sector, emphasizing the financial uncertainties that arise when investment sustainability depends exclusively on wholesale market revenues. This challenge is analyzed through E3Modelling’s PRIMES-IEM modeling tool, as part of the Electricity Market Outlook (EMO) subscription service. In addition, the speakers highlighted the importance of the hourly simulation of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) of Greece, with estimates up to 2050, using the Electricity Market Outlook model. This model quantifies the systemic and market changes forecasted in the NECP, while capturing economic trends and financial impacts that affect the market and energy investments. The results underscore the critical role of energy storage and its connection to renewables, as it contributes to both grid stability and the optimization of market revenues.
The team also presented in-depth quantitative sensitivity analyses, which examined the impact of uncertainties related to the NECP strategy, particularly regarding the fluctuations in natural gas prices and potential deviations in investment plans for renewables and storage. The findings confirm that these variables shape the decisions of investors and market participants. Particular emphasis was placed on the volatility of natural gas prices, which is expected to have a significant impact on the sustainability of investments in renewables and energy storage. This finding highlights the risks of relying solely on wholesale markets to finance investments.
Regarding the investment program, emerging trends show growth momentum for solar photovoltaic energy, which may exceed the NECP forecasts, while storage technologies may face delays. These discrepancies may have negative consequences for certain investments, while others show greater resilience. At the same time, some technologies are expected to exploit new sources of market revenues due to the lack of flexible resources in the system.
The Electricity Market Outlook, as part of Ricardo’s comprehensive energy market analysis, provides a complete data set derived from the electricity market simulations, based on the core NECP scenario and three additional sensitivity analysis variants. The data is available through an interactive platform and is accompanied by PDF reports and Excel files for further processing.
As pointed out by Dr. Leonidas Parousos, CEO of E3Modelling, Electricity Market Outlook has the ability to “identify challenges and opportunities in an ever-changing market”. Therefore, “the need for consultancy services based on robust, transparent and up-to-date modelling is more evident today than ever before”. For this reason, the new innovative service “should be a useful tool and compass to help governments and businesses navigate the complex international, sectoral, economic and energy system interdependencies”.
After the end of the conference, participants had the opportunity to discuss and exchange views on the future of energy markets and explore the prospects for new partnerships.
The Ricardo event provided an important platform for dialogue within the energy community, addressing key issues affecting energy markets and contributing to shape a sustainable and resilient energy future. At the same time, it confirmed Ricardo’s ongoing commitment to developing tools and solutions that facilitate the transition to a sustainable energy model.
