Measures planned by power utility PPC to help cover the energy needs of Crete, Greece’s biggest island, before and after the completion of a grid interconnection project to link Crete and Athens, include Heron I, a 147-MW gas-fired power plant currently owned by Greek construction and energy company GEK-TERNA.

PPC, which has undertaken the task of ensuring energy sufficiency on Crete, has reached advanced negotiations with GEK-TERNA to purchase the Heron I power plant and transfer it from its current Viotia location, northwest of Athens, to Crete.

The power plant’s installation on Crete could be completed in time for 2025’s summer season, a period when energy demand typically soars on the Greek islands as a result of tourism.

Heron I’s launch on Crete in the summer of 2025 would help safeguard the island from any energy insufficiencies should the commercial launch of the Crete-Athens grid interconnection, scheduled for the same summer, be delayed by a few months. Such a delay would leave Crete short of 220 MW, energypress sources informed. Heron I is also equipped to run on diesel.

In the meantime, PPC needs to take swift action to ensure Crete’s energy sufficiency for this coming summer, when the island’s energy deficit is projected to reach 190 MW.