Self-consumers with photovoltaic installations rated above 400 kW and connected to Greece’s interconnected system were required to install remote monitoring and remote-control equipment by Sept. 15. The measure followed an eight-month compliance period set by distribution operator HEDNO. It also applies to photovoltaic plants installed behind the customer’s meter.
Operators are required to submit compliance documentation covering both station equipment and integration with HEDNO’s SCADA and distribution-management systems. For now, the requirement functions primarily as an operational and system-security condition. The rule is tied to the communications and control capabilities being added within industrial power setups.
Remote monitoring and control for large behind-the-meter PV
Greece’s rollout brings industrial rooftop and behind-the-meter solar generation into the distribution operator’s digital control perimeter. That infrastructure can make onsite solar assets visible and technically controllable from the distribution-system level. As rooftop and behind-the-meter generation expands, operators need visibility into activity beyond the customer’s meter.
A large photovoltaic installation can affect local network power flows, particularly when industrial demand declines while solar output remains high. Remote monitoring provides that visibility for distribution operations. Remote control adds a mechanism for managing production when required.
The immediate operational outcome may be increased curtailment capability rather than a new revenue stream for industrial self-consumers. The same communications infrastructure could later support additional services. The technical basis for those services depends on generation being measured and controlled remotely.
Combining PV with flexible factory loads
Once an industrial site’s generation can be measured and controlled remotely, it becomes technically easier to pair solar output with flexible production loads. The described equipment includes electric boilers, refrigeration systems, EV charging, and other controllable assets under a common energy-management system. This setup can extend beyond managing a single generation unit.
An aggregator could potentially optimise the entire factory connection rather than handling only one generation asset. The source describes a case where a factory produces 1 MW from rooftop solar while consuming 3 MW. In that configuration, grid services may be delivered through changes in consumption rather than shutting down solar output.
The flexibility described includes increasing factory consumption when local solar output is high or reducing electricity use later when system conditions tighten. In this arrangement, the factory connection itself becomes the flexibility asset. The communications layer installed for remote control is presented as enabling that operational approach.
Potential implications for grid connections and market products
The emerging architecture is also linked to flexible grid-connection concepts. Instead of reinforcing a local network each time a new industrial load or generation project reaches its theoretical maximum, a DSO could offer connection capacity subject to agreed operating limits. Customers accepting remote control or automated demand management could receive faster or cheaper connections in exchange for flexibility during constrained periods.
The source states that Greece’s remote-control requirement does not automatically create a commercial market by itself. There is no automatic payment to industrial self-consumers solely because HEDNO can remotely monitor or control their installations. However, it highlights that telemetry, communications, and controllability are prerequisites for local flexibility markets.
Without those capabilities, local flexibility markets remain largely theoretical because the grid operator cannot reliably see, dispatch, or verify resources. Once such systems exist, additional market products become easier to introduce. For technology and energy-service providers in Greece, this could expand the addressable market for related solutions.
Technology requirements for SCADA integration and aggregation
The described implementation needs SCADA interfaces, controllers, communications equipment, energy-management software, and integration between onsite assets and distribution-system requirements. Future aggregators could build on the same infrastructure used for monitoring and control. The commercial opportunity described shifts from selling additional rooftop photovoltaic installations toward controlling broader industrial energy systems.
The source outlines that solar generation, factory demand, EV charging, and other flexible loads could be operated as a single portfolio. Portfolio behaviour would change according to electricity prices and network requirements. In this context, the 400-kW threshold is presented as more than a compliance condition.
The rule is framed as supporting an electricity system where large industrial customers become digitally visible and controllable within distribution operations. It positions those customers as controllable energy nodes rather than passive endpoints of the distribution network. This is described as a foundation for any later move toward commercial markets around local flexibility.
