The country’s grid will encounter a capacity adequacy problem in 2016, a study conducted by IPTO, the Independent Power Transmission Operator, to examine the country’s electricity needs over the next ten years, has found.

The study, conducted following a request made by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, as part of its process to restructure the country’s Capacity Assurance Mechanism, has been been completed and handed over to the authority, according to energypress sources.

The study’s findings have noted that, as of 2016, the country’s grid will need to be injected with imported electricity supply, while this requirement will continue to increase until 2020.

The lower demand for electricity experienced over the past few years, as a consequence of the recession, has created a false impression concerning the country’s adequacy problem, the report noted, while adding that this subdued state will change over the next few years as the national economy gradually recovers to put the country back on a course of growth and development.

Also, the adequacy problem will be accentuated as old electricity production stations are withdrawn from the grid and consumption demands increase once the interconnection project linking the Cyclades with the mainland is completed and development of an interconnection project for Crete follows, the study noted.

Key elements of the study were used by the Environment, Energy & Climate Change Ministry in its negotiations with the country’s creditor representatives, or troika, for the new Capacity Avalailability Tickets (CATs).