Grid-Forming Technologies and their Emerging Role in Greece’s Energy Transition
Grid-Forming Technologies and their Emerging Role in Greece’s Energy Transition
September 2025
Gus J. Papamichalopoulos, Senior Partner, and Antonis N. Koumpias, Senior Associate
Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm
1. The Grid Bottleneck
Greece is at a pivotal moment in its energy transition. The country has made remarkable progress in deploying renewable energy sources (RES) in recent years; however, grid infrastructure development and battery energy storage system (BESS) adoption have lagged behind. This mismatch stems from delays in approving new grid projects and in establishing a regulatory framework for BESS licensing.
Since August 2022, regulations have become increasingly restrictive regarding new RES grid connections. In the first half of 2025 alone, approximately 9% of RES generation was curtailed by the grid operators, due to congestion, a percentage expected to rise in the near future. Without rapid modernisation, Greece risks slowing its energy transition and undermining investor confidence.¹
2. Grid-Forming Technologies
Unlocking Greece’s full RES potential requires rethinking how the grid operates. As Greece phases out fossil-fuelled plants and increases RES, grid-forming is essential to maintain system stability in a decentralized, RES-heavy grid.² In this context, grid-forming inverters are a breakthrough: unlike conventional inverter-based resources that follow grid conditions, they actively set voltage and frequency, mimicking synchronous generators.
3. Lessons to be learned from our peers
Grid-forming systems offer developers and investors a range of advantages, including enhanced grid stability, reduced curtailments, improved project economics, and reliable integration into weak or isolated networks. Internationally, large-scale adoption of grid-forming technology is already under way, enabling participation in ancillary service markets such as inertia provision and system restoration.
Recent projects and events across Europe provide valuable lessons, demonstrating both the technical feasibility and strategic importance of grid-forming technologies:
- Germany (Amprion pilot): Near Cologne, Amprion deployed a reactive power compensation system with grid-forming capabilities, capable of delivering 300 MVar of reactive support and providing inertia via inverters and battery storage.³
- Finland & the Netherlands: Merus Power commissioned a 38 MW/43 MWh grid-forming BESS in Lappeenranta, Finland, in mid-2025⁴; in the Netherlands, RWE brought a 35 MW/41 MWh BESS online and is commissioning a smaller grid-forming system.⁵
- Germany: SMA and Cologne University demonstrated grid-forming BESS in Bordesholm. After simulating a power outage, local businesses and 8,000 households continued uninterrupted, powered exclusively by renewables.⁶
- United Kingdom: the UK has run multi-year tenders procuring inertia, short-circuit strength and grid-forming capability, covering roughly a third of minimum grid system needs once fully operational (anticipated in 2026).⁷
- Spain & Portugal: An April 2025 blackout accelerated political urgency around inertia and system strength, strengthening the case for grid-forming as an anti-blackout safeguard.
4. What Greece should do next – An ambitious agenda
By drawing on lessons from other European markets, leveraging EU grid modernisation initiatives, and updating its regulatory framework accordingly, Greece could seize the momentum and position itself as a frontrunner in Europe’s clean energy transition. Specifically, Greece should focus on a practical, results-oriented agenda built on four immediate priorities:
- Launching pilot projects: Greece should strive for the installation of multiple pilot projects across mainland Greece and the islands in collaboration with experienced vendors (e.g., SMA, Fluence). Those projects will provide valuable data to Greek grid operators, IPTO⁸ and HEDNO⁹, to measure effectiveness in inertia provision, curtailment reduction, and voltage/frequency support. Recently, an off-grid installation in Mount Athos, where a 3 MW / 6 MWh BESS, equipped with grid-forming capabilities, entered trial operation. This system will collaborate with a 1.1 MW PV power plant and stabilize the local micro-grid which has been developed to procure electricity to the local Monastery of Vatopedi.¹⁰
- Fast-tracking regulatory alignment with EU Grid Codes: The anticipated next-generation Requirements for Generators Network Code (RFG 2.0), which sets to modernize the EU Network Code on Requirements for Generators¹¹ will ensure wider technology coverage, higher technical standards, and critical grid-stability measures, mandating grid-forming capabilities for type B, C, and D plants, recognizing their foundational role in frequency and voltage stability. The Greek Grid Codes will need to be amended to explicitly promote grid-forming functions for RES projects in accordance with RFG 2.0 standards, setting performance standards aligned with EU norms.
- Creating secure revenue streams: The creation of remuneration mechanisms and incentives is critical. Greece should introduce tools such as long-term contracts for inertia services, preferential curtailment treatment, and ancillary service compensation to ensure commercial viability for grid-forming projects. The UK is already leveraging this trend via an inertia market, offering long-term contracts for grid-forming storage, a commercially viable model for Greece to consider.¹² Establishing “inertia credits” or dedicated reserve markets for producers deploying grid-forming technology, modeled after successful market-based mechanisms adopted in the UK, would provide a strong foundation for investment and accelerate large-scale adoption.¹³
- Taking advantage of interconnections: The Greek grid operators should integrate projects that incorporate grid-forming capabilities into existing and future interconnector zones, ensuring Greece enters the wider European grid network as a grid-stability stability partner, not just an exporter of clean energy.
Closing Remarks
Greece’s energy transformation demands the alignment of state-of-the-art technology with market-ready regulation. This way, grid-forming technology will not only stabilise a system that is increasingly dependent on intermittent renewables, but may also unlock new business models, funding streams, and strategic partnerships.
For investors, developers and authorities, the time to act is now. Greek grid operators, the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water, should move swiftly to amend Grid Codes and establish a bankable remuneration framework that enables the deployment of grid-forming technologies. On their end, investors should recognize that Greek regulation often follows the trajectory of more mature EU markets, with incentives typically favoring early adopters or innovative technology. By proactively designing projects with grid-forming capabilities now, before such requirements are codified, investors can position themselves at the forefront, proactively capturing emerging regulatory trends and potential opportunities.
Greece’s leadership in Europe’s clean energy future will be determined not by observation, but by decisive action.
________________
² Sources: 1) https://eepublicdownloads.entsoe.eu/clean-documents/Publications/SOC/High_Penetration_of_Power_Electronic_Interfaced_Power_Sources_and_the_Potential_Contribution_of_Grid_Forming_Converters.pdf 2) https://www.em-power.eu/news/interview-duckwitz-prabhakaran-grid-forming-technology-important-part-energy-transition
³ https://www.em-power.eu/news/business-models-for-robust-grids
⁴ https://www.energy-storage.news/merus-power-commissions-38mw-grid-forming-bess-in-finland/
⁶ https://www.sma.de/en/large-scale/stand-alone-grid-bordesholm-region
⁸ The Independent Power Transmission System Operator
⁹ The Hellenic Distribution Network Operator
¹¹ Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/631 of 14 April 2016.
¹² https://strategicenergy.eu/grid-forming-the-key/
¹³ See: https://www.neso.energy/news/great-britains-first-grid-forming-battery-connects-scotland
September 2025
Gus J. Papamichalopoulos, Senior Partner, and Antonis N. Koumpias, Senior Associate
Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm
1. The Grid Bottleneck
Greece is at a pivotal moment in its energy transition. The country has made remarkable progress in deploying renewable energy sources (RES) in recent years; however, grid infrastructure development and battery energy storage system (BESS) adoption have lagged behind. This mismatch stems from delays in approving new grid projects and in establishing a regulatory framework for BESS licensing.
Since August 2022, regulations have become increasingly restrictive regarding new RES grid connections. In the first half of 2025 alone, approximately 9% of RES generation was curtailed by the grid operators, due to congestion, a percentage expected to rise in the near future. Without rapid modernisation, Greece risks slowing its energy transition and undermining investor confidence.¹
2. Grid-Forming Technologies
Unlocking Greece’s full RES potential requires rethinking how the grid operates. As Greece phases out fossil-fuelled plants and increases RES, grid-forming is essential to maintain system stability in a decentralized, RES-heavy grid.² In this context, grid-forming inverters are a breakthrough: unlike conventional inverter-based resources that follow grid conditions, they actively set voltage and frequency, mimicking synchronous generators.
3. Lessons to be learned from our peers
Grid-forming systems offer developers and investors a range of advantages, including enhanced grid stability, reduced curtailments, improved project economics, and reliable integration into weak or isolated networks. Internationally, large-scale adoption of grid-forming technology is already under way, enabling participation in ancillary service markets such as inertia provision and system restoration.
Recent projects and events across Europe provide valuable lessons, demonstrating both the technical feasibility and strategic importance of grid-forming technologies:
- Germany (Amprion pilot): Near Cologne, Amprion deployed a reactive power compensation system with grid-forming capabilities, capable of delivering 300 MVar of reactive support and providing inertia via inverters and battery storage.³
- Finland & the Netherlands: Merus Power commissioned a 38 MW/43 MWh grid-forming BESS in Lappeenranta, Finland, in mid-2025⁴; in the Netherlands, RWE brought a 35 MW/41 MWh BESS online and is commissioning a smaller grid-forming system.⁵
- Germany: SMA and Cologne University demonstrated grid-forming BESS in Bordesholm. After simulating a power outage, local businesses and 8,000 households continued uninterrupted, powered exclusively by renewables.⁶
- United Kingdom: the UK has run multi-year tenders procuring inertia, short-circuit strength and grid-forming capability, covering roughly a third of minimum grid system needs once fully operational (anticipated in 2026).⁷
- Spain & Portugal: An April 2025 blackout accelerated political urgency around inertia and system strength, strengthening the case for grid-forming as an anti-blackout safeguard.
4. What Greece should do next – An ambitious agenda
By drawing on lessons from other European markets, leveraging EU grid modernisation initiatives, and updating its regulatory framework accordingly, Greece could seize the momentum and position itself as a frontrunner in Europe’s clean energy transition. Specifically, Greece should focus on a practical, results-oriented agenda built on four immediate priorities:
- Launching pilot projects: Greece should strive for the installation of multiple pilot projects across mainland Greece and the islands in collaboration with experienced vendors (e.g., SMA, Fluence). Those projects will provide valuable data to Greek grid operators, IPTO⁸ and HEDNO⁹, to measure effectiveness in inertia provision, curtailment reduction, and voltage/frequency support. Recently, an off-grid installation in Mount Athos, where a 3 MW / 6 MWh BESS, equipped with grid-forming capabilities, entered trial operation. This system will collaborate with a 1.1 MW PV power plant and stabilize the local micro-grid which has been developed to procure electricity to the local Monastery of Vatopedi.¹⁰
- Fast-tracking regulatory alignment with EU Grid Codes: The anticipated next-generation Requirements for Generators Network Code (RFG 2.0), which sets to modernize the EU Network Code on Requirements for Generators¹¹ will ensure wider technology coverage, higher technical standards, and critical grid-stability measures, mandating grid-forming capabilities for type B, C, and D plants, recognizing their foundational role in frequency and voltage stability. The Greek Grid Codes will need to be amended to explicitly promote grid-forming functions for RES projects in accordance with RFG 2.0 standards, setting performance standards aligned with EU norms.
- Creating secure revenue streams: The creation of remuneration mechanisms and incentives is critical. Greece should introduce tools such as long-term contracts for inertia services, preferential curtailment treatment, and ancillary service compensation to ensure commercial viability for grid-forming projects. The UK is already leveraging this trend via an inertia market, offering long-term contracts for grid-forming storage, a commercially viable model for Greece to consider.¹² Establishing “inertia credits” or dedicated reserve markets for producers deploying grid-forming technology, modeled after successful market-based mechanisms adopted in the UK, would provide a strong foundation for investment and accelerate large-scale adoption.¹³
- Taking advantage of interconnections: The Greek grid operators should integrate projects that incorporate grid-forming capabilities into existing and future interconnector zones, ensuring Greece enters the wider European grid network as a grid-stability stability partner, not just an exporter of clean energy.
Closing Remarks
Greece’s energy transformation demands the alignment of state-of-the-art technology with market-ready regulation. This way, grid-forming technology will not only stabilise a system that is increasingly dependent on intermittent renewables, but may also unlock new business models, funding streams, and strategic partnerships.
For investors, developers and authorities, the time to act is now. Greek grid operators, the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water, should move swiftly to amend Grid Codes and establish a bankable remuneration framework that enables the deployment of grid-forming technologies. On their end, investors should recognize that Greek regulation often follows the trajectory of more mature EU markets, with incentives typically favoring early adopters or innovative technology. By proactively designing projects with grid-forming capabilities now, before such requirements are codified, investors can position themselves at the forefront, proactively capturing emerging regulatory trends and potential opportunities.
Greece’s leadership in Europe’s clean energy future will be determined not by observation, but by decisive action.
________________
² Sources: 1) https://eepublicdownloads.entsoe.eu/clean-documents/Publications/SOC/High_Penetration_of_Power_Electronic_Interfaced_Power_Sources_and_the_Potential_Contribution_of_Grid_Forming_Converters.pdf 2) https://www.em-power.eu/news/interview-duckwitz-prabhakaran-grid-forming-technology-important-part-energy-transition
³ https://www.em-power.eu/news/business-models-for-robust-grids
⁴ https://www.energy-storage.news/merus-power-commissions-38mw-grid-forming-bess-in-finland/
⁶ https://www.sma.de/en/large-scale/stand-alone-grid-bordesholm-region
⁸ The Independent Power Transmission System Operator
⁹ The Hellenic Distribution Network Operator
¹¹ Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/631 of 14 April 2016.
¹² https://strategicenergy.eu/grid-forming-the-key/
¹³ See: https://www.neso.energy/news/great-britains-first-grid-forming-battery-connects-scotland
