Energy Projects
Legal support for solar, wind and storage projects — land rights, regulatory licensing, grid connection terms and power purchase agreements.
An energy project is a file before it is a construction site
Between choosing a site and the first kilowatt-hour sits a chain of consents, any one of which can stop the project: securing rights over the land, the producer certificate, environmental consent, connection terms from the grid operator, the building permit, and the agreement under which the output is sold. The order matters, the deadlines bind, and a project’s value is largely a function of how mature its file is.
Most problems do not arise in licensing. They arise in the land: titles that do not survive scrutiny, forest maps that classify the plot differently from what a site visit suggests, archaeological or environmental restrictions, boundaries that disagree with the Land Registry, and leases drafted without any thought for the lifespan of an energy project.
Why our firm
We look at a project as a single whole — land, consents, connection, financing, offtake — rather than as separate procedures. The land review comes before any licensing spend, because it is the one category of finding that cannot be fixed with more time and money.
Our approach
Depending on the project, the work may include:
- Site legal review: title, encumbrances, forest classification, Natura, archaeology, Land Registry
- Securing rights: leases, surface rights, easements for access and cabling
- The producer certificate and the other regulatory approvals required
- Environmental consent and the building permit
- Connection terms and the connection agreement with the relevant operator
- Power purchase agreements, including corporate PPAs
- Transferring mature projects, and buy-side or lender-side legal due diligence
Core areas of expertise
Land rights
Leases, surface rights and easements drafted for the lifespan of an energy project — not adapted from an agricultural tenancy.
Site review
Title, forest maps, Natura, archaeology and Land Registry, before a euro is spent on licensing. The one category of finding that cannot be fixed later.
Regulatory licensing
The producer certificate and the approvals that follow it, with the binding deadlines that kill projects when missed tracked throughout.
Grid connection
Network availability governs viability more than any other variable. Handling with the relevant operator, including the connection guarantee.
Power purchase agreements
Agreements with the market operator and corporate PPAs: term, pricing, availability provisions and allocation of risk.
Storage & hybrids
The framework for storage systems and hybrid stations, where the licensing route differs materially from a straightforward solar plant.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreign investor develop an energy project in Greece?
Yes. There is no nationality restriction. In practice the project is delivered through a Greek corporate vehicle, and in border regions or areas under special regimes additional approvals may be required to acquire rights over land.
Is it better to buy a mature project or start from scratch?
It depends on your tolerance for permitting risk. A mature project costs more but has its risk priced in; a greenfield project is cheaper and may never reach connection. Either way the legal review is the same — only its timing changes.
What is the most common obstacle?
Available electrical capacity on the network, and immediately after that the forest classification of the site. Both are checked before anything else, because neither is solved by a better study.
Do you cover storage projects?
Yes. The framework for storage and hybrid stations is newer and still developing, with a different licensing route and a different revenue structure from a conventional renewables plant.