The country’s two recent energy crises, which forced the energy ministry to make an announcement urging careful consumption, not only shed light on the major deficiencies faced by the country’s energy system but also highlighted the misjudgments of IPTO, the power grid operator, as proven by the inaccuracies of its Capacity Adequacy Study for 2017 to 2023, published just seven months ago.

IPTO publishes such studies on a regular basis, their objective being to foresee any future threats concerning the electricity producing system’s ability to fully respond to developments in the coming years. These studies are also meant to point out whether new production units are needed, offering advance notice for necessary investments.

Amid its technical details, the IPTO study noted that the “electricity production system is expected to fully satisfy demand.” In other words, last June, IPTO officially concluded that the country’s existing electricity production units – coal-fired, natural gas-fueled and hydropower stations – would suffice to meet demand in 2017. The IPTO study also assured that the Greek energy system would be able to stand on its own feet even in the event that imported energy, via the interconnections with neighboring countries, was not available.

However, the actual circumstances showed that IPTO was way off, both in terms of planning and forecasts.