Law firm Metaxas & Associates has submitted an action for annulment on behalf of several unnamed Greek and foreign PV investors to the Greek Council of State. The action of annulment calls for a u-turn on the council’s decision to suspend the submission of new PV project applications for grid connection.
The decision to suspend applications was issued by the Deputy Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change after it revealed that the PV targets set by the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change had been fulfilled.
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In addition to suspending new PV applications, the council has suspended the assessment of similar pending applications due to the “existence of already too many contracted PV stations, which fully cover the national targets set for 2020”. However, rooftop PV systems and applications submitted under the ‘fast track’ procedure are exempt from the decision.
The action for annulment submitted to the Greek council contests that the council’s decision is “invalid, among others, due to lack of a lawful ground or, alternatively, due to lack or encroachment of legal authorisation, as provided for in article 43 para. 2 of the Greek Constitution”.
Furthermore, the decision is said to infringe the law as it is based on “poor reasoning” which also breaches “several statutory juridical principles, such as the principle of proportionality as well as the principle of protection of legitimate expectations on the part of the investors”.
The reasoning behind the decision was also deemed “inept”. The PV investors argue that the assessment that current PV projects have fulfilled national targets may only take into account the contracted projects and not the actual installed PV capacity. Moreover, the investors claim that the decision ignores the realistic expectations regarding the realisation of further projects given the current severe lack of liquidity as a result of the financial crisis.