Distributors bent on network expansion despite crisis

Gas distributors EDA ATTIKI, EDA THESS and DEDA, unperturbed by the energy crisis, plan to expand the country’s gas network through the development of more than 3,000 kilometers of medium and low-pressure networks over the next four years, as well as digitization upgrades, investments worth a total of 740 million euros. RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has just forwarded the operators’ gas network expansion plans for consultation.

These investment plans demonstrate the willingness of all three gas operators to push ahead with their business plans for expanded gas usage as a key part of the country’s decarbonization effort, despite the sharp rise in gas prices.

Highlighting this intention, Italgas, whose acquisition of DEPA Infrastructure, the parent company of EDA ATTIKI, EDA THESS and DEDA, was completed one month ago, has just announced a loan of 580 million euros to be primarily used to help finance the gas network expansion plans of the three gas operators.

EDA ATTIKI, EDA THESS and DEDA cover the regions of wider Athens, Thessaloniki-Thessaly and the rest of Greece, respectively.

EDA THESS plans investments worth 233 million euros for new gas networks in the Thessaloniki and Thessaly regions.

EDA Attiki’s expansion plan for Athens, 570 km of low and medium-pressure networks by 2026, worth 122.23 million euros, will aim for 85,500 new connections by the end of 2026, taking the company’s total to 260,000 links.

DEDA Athens is planning over 2,000 km of new networks in seven regions, the biggest of the three initiatives, budgeted at 396 million euros.