Power grid operator IPTO has planned upgrades for overloaded 150-kV networks, needed to facilitate new RES project connections in various mainland areas, where investment interest is high.

The upgrades, part of the operator’s ten-year development plan, promise to pave the way for new investments in the wind and solar energy park sectors.

The Peloponnese, Thrace, Kastoria, Florina, central Greece, Ionian islands of the south, Ioannina and northern Evia are among the areas experiencing 150-kv network overloads, the operator has noted. IPTO has planned upgrade projects for all these areas.

They included an interconnection to link the Megalopoli 400-kV network with the existing power grid of Acheloos River-Distomo, through Patras. This project is expected to be completed this year.

Greater transmission capacity is also planned for the Trizinia area, in the eastern Peloponnese. The upgrade, planned to be developed over the next three years, is expected to increase RES absorption capacity in the area to approximately 230 MW.