"Energy transition in Greece towards 2030 & 2050: Critical issues, challenges & research priorities. Stakeholder Interview Meetings – A Synthesis Report": Sustainable Energy Transitions Laboratory (SENTINEL) project

To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and keep the current trajectory of the global temperature increase below 1.5ºC, the transformation of the current energy systems into decarbonised ones is profound. However, deciding on how the future energy systems shall be designed, to guarantee energy security, social and environmental sustainability as well as energy accessibility and affordability of energy across the population raises significant challenges. The increasing complexity and interrelatedness of various dimensions of energy led to a situation, in which existing modelling tools do not capture enough of the technological, geographic, societal and environmental details, important for designing a decarbonised energy system. The EC-funded H2020 SENTINEL project (Sustainable Energy Transitions Laboratory) in order to overcome these shortcomings and develop a new energy system modelling framework has applied a carefully defined, participatory approach including three steps: i. Investigating how to adjust modelling tools and check their behaviour in three case studies: national (focusing on Greece), regional (dedicated to the Nordic region) and continental (dealing with Europe). ii. Engaging stakeholders representing the policymaking sphere, energy industry, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and scientific community, to understand the needs of modelling users. iii. Involving external actors in SENTINEL models’ application processes to give an overview about how the models work. This document presents one of the steps undertaken to realise the actions described above. It summarises the interaction with stakeholders in the context of the SENTINEL national case study, for the identification of critical issues, challenges and research priorities for the energy transition in Greece towards 2030 & 2050. The processes included six (6) physical meetings and thirteen (13) online interviews with thirty-six (36) stakeholders from the power sector, fossil fuel industry, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency sectors, as well as to policymakers from the Ministry of Environment and Energy and representatives of NGOs to identify critical topics for the medium- and the long-term national strategy. The aim of these meetings was to reflect on the national scenarios and targets suggested in the recent National Energy and Climate Plan and the Long-Term Strategy towards 2050.The authors would like to thank all stakeholders for dedicating their time and providing with important input during the consultation process. The authors would, also, like to acknowledge the support from the EC. The content of this report is the sole responsibility of its authors and does not necessary reflect the views of the EC