grid

Crete set for hybrid RES station installations offering 120 MW

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An energy ministry decision, either imminent or already signed, will pave the way for the installation of hybrid RES stations on Crete offering a total capacity of 120 MW, energypress sources have been informed.

This ministerial decision comes as a follow-up to legislation for a support framework concerning the development of RES facilities equipped with energy storage units on the Greek islands, a plan endorsed by the European Commission.

It is divided into three sections. Crete belongs to the framework’s second section, while the plan’s first section includes small islands, such as Gavdos, not planned to be incorporated with the mainland grid through power grid operator IPTO’s interconnection program. The third section of the plan concerns islands now undergoing interconnection procedures.

The 120 MW in hybrid stations to be installed on Crete will receive tariffs determined administratively rather than through auctions, as the island needs to secure energy sufficiency as soon as possible, leaving no time for competitive procedures.

Of Crete’s 120 MW in prospective hybrid stations, four projects offering a total capacity of 84.45 MW lead the race for securing tariffs, as their licensing procedures have reached an advanced stage.

No changes to RES, energy storage grid injection limit plan

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The energy ministry has completed work on a ministerial decision designed to restrict injections into the grid by new RES and energy storage units and plans to sign it off within the next few days as the matter is one of the energy sector’s pending issues the ministry wants to have settled ahead of the May 21 legislative election.

According to sources, formulas proposed by power grid operator IPTO and distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO have been maintained for the ministerial decision.

The ministry’s decision to impose grid injection restrictions was taken in order to make optimal use of available electrical capacity in the transmission and distribution system and ultimately maximize the number of green-energy power plants.

According to the legislative revision, the energy injection restrictions will not be able to exceed 5 percent of the respective annual capacities of units subject to the limit.

The measure will apply to all RES plants under development and possessing finalized connection offers, as well as to green-energy projects for which connection requests have been submitted to either DEDDIE/HEDNO or IPTO. Batteries will also be subject to the injection restriction, regardless of whether they have been incorporated into RES systems or not.

Grid overcomes Easter’s grid overload scare with little action

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The country’s grid emerged untroubled by an overload scare concerning the Greek Easter long weekend, a situation prompted by the combination of high RES output, a lower-cost energy strategy planned by the grid operators, and low demand.

Overcast weather in most parts of the country restricted solar energy output, sparing power grid operator IPTO of the need to intervene in order to protect the grid from being overcharged amid low-demand conditions.

Had action been necessary, IPTO planned to orchestrate a highly complex combination of moves that would have included restricting electricity imports, deactivating as many power stations as possible and significantly cutting RES input.

As it turned out, Good Friday was the most challenging day for the grid, as cloudy weather on Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday proved pivotal in helping authorities overcome the overcharge threat.

IPTO, coordinating with distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO, only needed to make limited RES cuts.

Grid facing overload challenge this Greek Easter Sunday

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A drop in electricity demand forecast for this coming Greek Easter Sunday, combined with high renewable energy contribution to the energy mix, could prove to be a major test for the country’s grid, as was the case on March 26, when such a combination forced the power grid operator IPTO to cut back on RES production over extended periods in order to protect the grid from voltage overloads as demand plunged to just over 500 MWh for an hour.

Ioannis Margaris, Deputy Chairman at IPTO, highlighted the danger at the recent Power & Gas Forum in Athens, noting the grid is operating on edge and will be tested during the Greek Easter break.

In its weekly outlooks, IPTO had recently forecast a load of 4,390 MW and demand of 1,330 on March 26 at 2pm, before actual demand ended up reaching just over 500 MW.

For this coming Easter Sunday, IPTO has forecast loads of as low as 3,750 MW during the midday hours, meaning the operator is expecting another challenge that could be even trickier than the recent encounter. A day earlier, on Easter Saturday, IPTO has forecast a higher load of 4,800 MW for the midday hours.

To combat the grid-overcharge threat, IPTO plans to orchestrate a highly complex combination of moves that will include restricting electricity imports, deactivating as many generation units as possible and significantly cutting RES input.

IPTO’s Western Corridor power line to be delivered next month

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A much-delayed section of a power transmission line project in Greece’s west, dubbed the Western Corridor, for which its developer, IPTO, the power grid operator, was forced to bypass a monastery in the Kalvryta area following objections and legal action taken by its nuns, is expected to be delivered by the end of this month, enabling the wider project’s launch by mid-April, energypress sources have informed.

The new 400-KV double circuit transmission line will enable a high-voltage center in Megalopoli, central Peloponnese, to be connected to 400-KV circuits at Antirio, on the mainland’s southern coast. This will boost the Peloponnese’s existing transmission line connections, currently entirely facilitated by 150-KV transmission lines linked with the wider Athens area and western Greece.

The new Western Corridor transmission line, comprised of aerial, underground and underwater sections, has been 98-percent ready since 2019, the missing link being a section that was originally planned to run by the monastery, at a 500-meter distance. Legal action taken by the Kalavryta-area monastery’s nuns blocked the installation of two pylons, forcing a change of course further away from the monastery.

This section’s development was put on hold for several months as a result of the legal action taken by the monastery.

The project’s launch will not offer additional grid capacity for RES projects. RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has already factored in the additional increased capacity that would be freed up by the project.

Increased grid capacity will, however, be made available for new RES project additions once the Eastern Corridor, a 400-kV transmission line linking Megalopoli, Corinth and Athens, is completed.

RES project links up 60% in ’22, better grid utilization needed

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RES projects ended 2022 having recorded one of the best performances in recent years in terms of new unit connections to the transmission system, adding a green energy capacity of 583 MW, up from a total of 370 MW in 2021, an increase of approximately 60 percent in a year.

This spectacular increase highlights the tremendous level of interest expressed by investors for the development of new RES projects in Greece. It puts the country on the right track towards achieving ambitious green energy targets set for 2030.

According to the revised National Energy and Climate Plan, Greece is striving for a RES energy-mix share of 80 percent by the end of the decade.

Against this backdrop, priority now needs to be given to better utilize the existing network through legislative initiatives that will free up reserved electricity space from stagnant RES projects.

Also, RES project licensing procedures need to be further simplified so that grid projects included in power grid operator IPTO’s 10-year investment program may proceed even faster.

PPC plans to convert idle Kardia units into modern capacitors

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Power utility PPC has decided to convert the generators of units III and IV at its Kardia power facility into modern capacitors to provide reactive power regulation, voltage support and power supply services to the system.

According to a tender prepared for this EPC/turn-key project, the conversion is planned to be ready for its commercial launch 15 months following the signing of a contract with the winning bidder.

PPC’s decision to convert the Kardia power generators to modern capacitors is in line with an international trend where conventional power plants are being decommissioned and RES installation capacities continue to increase, the power utility explained.

Large modern generators of conventional power plants that are being idled can remain extremely useful to the power system by being converted into modern capacitors, thereby continuing to provide important support to the country’s power system and grid quality.

More specifically, the intended uses of these capacitors include short circuit power enhancement in weak grids, synchronous inertial response, and grid fault ride-through capability.

‘Stricter enforcement of RES project development plans’

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Stricter enforcement of project development schedules for prospective RES units holding connection terms is required, while licenses need to be revoked if project deadlines are not met, power grid operator IPTO deputy president Giannis Margaris has underlined at an energy storage event in Athens.

The official also stressed the need, from now on, for RES units with integrated energy storage facilities, a combination that would enable a greater number of renewable energy projects to be installed and increase the grid’s ability to absorb their output.

As for energy injection restrictions that will be imposed on RES stations and energy storage stations, the IPTO deputy revealed that a relevant study and proposal by the operator will be submitted to the energy ministry within the next few days.

Margaris reiterated the problem of potential saturation faced by the grid, noting Greece’s current installed RES capacity totals 10 GW (5.5 GW – distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO, 4.5 GW – IPTO), plus 11.5 GW in connection term offers.

The resulting total sum is nearly 22 GW, while IPTO’s ten-year development plan envisages 28 GW by 2030, including capacity being created on islands through interconnection projects, Margaris explained, adding that the National Energy and Climate Plan puts the grid capacity objective at 25 GW by 2030, meaning just 3 GW of available capacity remains, despite the strong level of investor interest.

 

Western corridor grid project’s final expropriations announced

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Power grid operator IPTO’s “western corridor” grid project, to link the Peloponnese with the ultra high voltage network, has reached its final stretch following the energy ministry’s announcement of an additional expropriation procedure concerning private land needed for the development of the network from Patras to Megaloupoli.

The expropriations will enable the completion of an alternative route for an overhead transmission line that detours Agioi Theodoroi, a monastery in the Kalavrtyta area, northern Peloponnese, following its objections, three years ago, to the project running by the monastery.

The project’s completion will enable power utility PPC’s Megalopoli V power station, a 400-kV capacity unit, to help cover the country’s electricity demand.

The additional expropriation plan concerns two expanses, one measuring a total of 5,577 square meters, the other 915 square meters.

The first expanse, comprising a total of 30 plots in a wider area of Patras, northwestern Peloponnese, is planned to host a transmission line running a total length of 6.77 km.

The second expanse, made up of eight plots in the Kalavryta area is planned to host a transmission line running a length of 1.98 km.

The energy ministry decision also paves the way for the development of a transmission line from Patras to Megalopoli, in central Peloponnese, on land covering 13,077.37 square metres in the wider Kalavryta area.

 

RAE delivers grid emergency action plan, listing 16 dangers

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RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has forwarded, for consultation, an emergency action plan for Greece’s electricity sector, listing a total of 16 possible danger scenarios, two of which, a disruption of Russian natural gas supply and cyberattacks at crucial energy infrastructure, are regarded as highly probable and intolerable.

The aforementioned dangers, along with natural disasters, such as extreme weather conditions, would prompt extended outages, putting lives at risk and resulting in a leakage of information crucial for national security, according to the action plan, which RAE prepared with support from power grid operator IPTO.

Other dangers included in this list include equipment failure, floods, heat waves, snow storms, forest fires and human error.

The action plan’s proposed responses, to avoid grid collapse or even destruction, include load reductions, pumped storage station and electricity export disruptions, activation of reserve solutions and consumption-reduction mechanisms, and, as a last resort, electricity supply disruptions for businesses and households.

Fast-track transmission project licensing to slash time needed

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The energy ministry is preparing a new set of rules for fast-track licensing of grid transmission projects, the aim being to slash, by 75 percent, the overall time required for issuance of licenses concerning transmission projects deemed essential for the updated National Energy and Climate Plan, sources have informed.

The revisions, adopting proposals forwarded by power grid operator IPTO, promise to accelerate and simplify licensing procedures for grid transmission projects that have remained complex and too long for many decades. Under the current rules, licenses take as long as five years to be issued.

Environmental permits, just part of the overall licensing procedure, take at least 24 months to be completed. This time period is expected to be restricted to a maximum of seven months once the licensing procedure for grid transmission projects is simplified.

Also, the time needed for related building permits will be reduced from six months, at present, to just 15 days, sources informed.

The new licensing framework for grid transmission projects will serve as an integral part of the national plan for RES management, IPTO sources noted.

 

Green power injection cuts as a result of network saturation

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Green power injections into the grid will be cut by as much as five percent, when required for the system’s safe operation, as a result of the grid’s saturation, according to information obtained by energypress on an imminent legislative revision concerning non-guaranteed absorption of RES-based electricity production.

This revision will be included in a draft bill being prepared by the energy ministry for a second round of RES licensing simplification as well as framework for the development of energy storage facilities.

The ministry’s draft bill is expected to be forwarded for consultation within the next few days, most probably next week, before being submitted to parliament for ratification.

The RES injection cuts will concern the country’s entire grid, the objective being to create grid space for as many RES units as possible in the upgraded transmission network to be developed by power grid operator IPTO projects planned until 2030.

 

 

Operator starts grid substation upgrades, to offer RES units 1,750 MW

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Power grid operator IPTO has begun upgrading low and medium-voltage substations around the country to facilitate new RES unit connections to the grid.

The overall effort, expected to create additional grid capacity for RES units totaling 1,750 MW, is still at its early stages. So far, two of 33 substation upgrades have been completed, according to energypress sources.

The upgrade is budgeted at 30 million euros, of which 12 million euros is planned to be provided through the recovery fund.

The 1,750 MW in RES unit connections to be enabled by the operator’s substation upgrades represents nearly 40 percent of a 4,640-MW RES capacity estimated to be needed for the National Energy and Climate Plan to reach its energy-mix goals.

The upgrade work promises to increase substation capacity by 250 MVA in the Peloponnese and Epirus regions, by 100 MVA in the wider Athens area, by 200 MVA in central Greece, and by 250 MVA in north and northeastern Greece’s Macedonia and Thrace regions.

All contracts for the substation upgrades are expected to have been awarded by the fourth quarter in 2023, while all work is scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter in 2025.

 

IPTO grid projects set to receive €195m in recovery fund support

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Two major grid projects planned for development by power grid operator IPTO in order to boost the country’s grid capacity and energy security are set to receive a total of 195 million euros in funding through the recovery and resilience fund, following a joint ministerial decision by the energy and finance ministries.

The joint ministerial decision secures financial support, through the recovery and resilience fund, for the fourth and final phase of the Cyclades interconnection and reconstruction of the Koumoundourou high-voltage center along with a 400kV line linking the facility with the Corinth high-voltage center, west of Athens.

The two projects are budgeted at a combined total of 482 million euros. The fourth phase of the Cyclades interconnection, budgeted at 393 million euros, is expected to receive 165 million euros through the recovery and resilience fund.

The Koumoundourou high-voltage center, whose budget is estimated at 89 million euros, is expected to receive 30 million euros in financing through the recovery and resilience fund.

IPTO investments, including island grid links, up sharply over past 4 years

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Investments made by power grid operator IPTO in the first nine-month period of 2021, for the development of crucial grid projects, including island grid interconnections, as well as upgrades of existing facilities, reached 241.8 million euros, exceeding, by more than 100 million euros, amounts spent during equivalent periods in any of the years prior to the operator’s split from power grid operator PPC in June, 2017, through an ownership unbundling procedure.

Since 2018, IPTO’s investments in grid projects have reached 1.12 billion euros, more than double the amount tallied in the preceding four-year period between 2013 and 2016, when a total of 489 million euros was invested.

The operator’s investment strategy has focused on accelerating grid interconnection projects serving Aegean Sea islands, thereby ending their energy isolation while also reducing the environmental and financial impact of local high-polluting and costly generators used on non-interconnected islands.

RAE launches inquiry into ‘western corridor’ grid delay

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RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has launched an enquiry into the delay of Greece’s “western corridor” power grid project, now behind schedule and posing a serious threat to the national grid’s overall operating ability.

The corridor’s delayed delivery has been linked to objections raised by a small group of nuns at a monastery in the northern Peloponnese’s Kalavryta area, opposing the installation of several  remaining pylons needed for the project’s completion.

Power grid operator IPTO has provided RAE with an extensive report, hundreds of pages long, detailing the project’s entire course, following a request made by the regulatory authority.

The “western corridor” is now behind schedule as envisaged in the operator’s 10-year development plan.

RAE has also requested an explanation from IPTO as to why it did not promptly inform the regulatory authority on the project’s delay, given that it was full aware of the nearby monastery’s stance, so that possible alternative solutions could be explored.

IPTO contends all its actions, from the moment the monastery-related problem arose, have been carried out in accordance with energy ministry instructions, as is the case with all matters of strategic importance.

 

IPTO preparing new formula for grid capacity availability

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Power grid operator IPTO is preparing revisions to a framework for incoming RES project applications, including, as the first major change, a new formula calculating available grid capacity, the operator’s deputy director Giannis Margaris (photo) has noted during an online update.

This new formula will factor in all offers made by the operator in the market as well as new RES projects, both in development and at the planning stage, Margaris pointed out.

IPTO expects to have finalized the formula within April, before presenting it to the energy ministry and then the market.

The operator is also preparing a tracking system that will enable investors to be updated, at any given moment, on the progress of their connection term applications, the IPTO deputy informed.

These upcoming changes come in the wake of a flood of group applications for small-scale RES projects, seeking direct links to the grid, as well as complaints by ABO Wind over IPTO’s delay in examining the company’s connection term applications.

Such objections serve as an opportunity for a reexamination of the grid entry framework, Margaris noted.

The problems that need to addressed concern the licensing and grid entry frameworks, not grid capacity, neither now nor until 2030, the IPTO deputy stressed.

Blackout threat remains, operator staff shortage exposed

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The country’s power transmission and generation systems have met heightened electricity demand prompted by extreme weather conditions, including heavy snowfall around the country over the past couple of days, but the threat of power outages still remains.

The weather system, bringing some of the heaviest snow seen in Greece in years, exposed a personnel shortage at distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO, whose medium and low-voltage networks suffered extensive damages caused by collapsing trees.

The operator’s personnel have struggled to cope with the challenge of repairing numerous damaged transmission lines. Approximately 1,000 trees reportedly collapsed onto power lines in Athens, causing power cuts at thousands of homes in the city’s north and east.

Between 500 and 600 experienced technical staff members have left IPTO over the past three years without being replaced, which has left the operator vulnerable to extreme conditions, union members have pointed out.

IPTO crews are currently working around the clock to meet repair demands, while 60 of the company’s technicians stationed in other parts of Greece have been brought into Athens to reinforce crews covering the capital.

Energy minister Kostas Skrekas yesterday visited power grid operator IPTO’s national control center where he was updated on the transmission system’s current situation, electricity generation levels, as well as the operator’s projections for the next few days.

“So far, the transmission system has responded well to the challenges of the Medea storm front,” IPTO’s chief executive Manos Manousakis informed the minister. “But the duration of the extreme weather conditions carries dangers,” he added.

Athens, Peloponnese power supply reinstated after fire damage

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Power supply to Athens and Peloponnese areas affected late last night by a fire that broke out at a key grid facility west of Athens, in the Aspropyrgos area, was swiftly reinstated after power grid operator IPTO technicians along with distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO crews took action to repair damages at the grid facility.

Earlier today, the ministry assured that the environment had not been impacted after a team of environmental authorities visited the fire-damaged facility in Aspropyrgos to measure the amount of pollution in the air.

Electricity supply to Athens areas was mostly reinstated within 40 minutes while power transmission to the Peloponnese was back within 55 minutes.

The cause of the fire at the Aspropyrgos power facility is still being investigated.

Central Athens, suburbs in the west and south, as well as areas on the capital’s western outskirts, all experienced blackouts late Sunday night. In the Peloponnese, Corinth, Nafplio, Tripoli, Sparta and Kalamata were all affected. Three islands close to Athens, Aegina, Poros and Agistri, also had their electricity supply cut.

DEDDIE/HEDNO crews are still working intensively to reinstate medium-voltage supply at isolated locations in the areas that were affected.

 

 

Grid upgrade restarts, enabling Peloponnese RES development

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A strategically important 400-kV western-corridor grid upgrade project reaching Megalopoli, central Peloponnese, to greatly increase electricity transmission to and from the Peloponnese, enable further development of RES facilities and gas-fueled power stations in the region and ensure voltage stabilization for the country’s southern grid, is now nearing completion following a delay of more than a year prompted by objections from a nearby monastery in Kalavryta, northern Peloponnese.

Contractor crews have now returned to work without resistance from nuns at the Kalavryta’s Agion Theodoron monastery, who previously objected, contending the construction activity, half a kilometer away, impacted the monastery’s tranquility.

Work on the project, budgeted at 110 million euros, had been brought to a standstill for nearly 14 months. The project contractor estimates construction of the project’s two remaining transmission towers will require between 60 to 80 days.

Overall, the project was blocked for a total of 12 years before work finally began in 2018 for completion in 2020.

 

Distributor DEDA wants swifter delivery of operator projects

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Gas distributor DEDA, covering all areas around Greece except for wider Athens, Thessaloniki and Thessaly, wants gas grid operator DESFA to complete key grid projects six months sooner so that the distributor may proceed with tenders for distribution network expansion projects.

DESFA needs to construct metering/regulating stations in Livadia, central Greece, as well as the Kastoria and Kozani regions in northern Greece.

DEDA called for a swifter delivery of these stations in public consultation staged for DESFA’s ten-year development plan covering 2021 to 2030.

DESFA plans to complete work on the Livadia metering/regulating station in March, 2022. However, DEDA has requested the station’s completion six months earlier, explaining it will not be able to distribute to consumers in the area until the station’s construction has been completed.

DEDA also called for the Kastoria and Kozani stations to be complete six months earlier, citing the same reasons.

In addition, DEDA requested the development of a natural gas compressor station close to the areas of Karpenisi, central Greece, and Amfissa, slightly southeast, to facilitate CNG supply to these regions.

Grid problems exposed by cold weather prompt call for upgrade

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Electricity grid deficiencies exposed by cold weather around Greece in recent days have prompted the energy ministry to call for an adjustment of a distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO investment plan being prepared by the operator’s new administration.

Ageing infrastructure accentuated by a lack of investments needed for upgrades required a major mobilization effort for approximately 3,000 low-voltage network repairs.

Over 200 teams of technical experts backed by 30 associated companies with crews totaling some 1,000 persons needed to be deployed to combat the network’s problems.

Energy minister Costis Hatzidakis was obliged to offer his gratitude in a public statement but the urgent need for a network upgrade remains.

The ministry now wants increased investments for the network’s maintenance. The prospective arrival of a strategic partner at DEDDIE/HEDNO, a power utility PPC subsidiary headed for a privatization procedure offering a 49 percent stake, will be crucial in the effort to upgrade the network.

However, the financial support of a new strategic partner is not expected to come through until 2021 or 2022, even if the distribution network operator’s privatization is completed by mid-2020.

Over the past five years, distribution network investments made by the operator have fallen by approximately 40 percent, shrinking to 155.5 million euros in 2018 from 257 million euros in 2014.

 

 

Grid prepared for demand peak of first heatwave this summer

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Given the day-ahead market’s indications, the country’s first heatwave of this summer, expected to increase temperatures to levels of between 37 and 38 degrees Celsius today and tomorrow, should not cause any problems for the grid.

The system is prepared for daily demand levels of 150,760 MWh at a System Marginal Price (SMP), or wholesale price, of 73.549 euros per MWh.

Renewable energy is programmed to cover 21,584 MWh of daily demand and hydropower facilities a further 8,156 MWh.

As for the country’s lignite-fired power stations, power utility PPC’s Kardia II, III and IV, Agios Dimitrios III and IV and Megalopoli III and IV will all be called into action.

So, too, will gas-fueled power stations operated by PPC and private-sector electricity producers (Aliveri V, Lavrio IV and V, Megalopoli V, Heron, ENTHES, Protergia, Corinth Power).

Electricity exports totaling 21,350 MWh have also been planned. Demand is forecast to peak at 2pm, reaching a level of 7,622 MW.

In a statement released yesterday, Greek gas utility DEPA ascertained the country’s gas needs will be covered this summer, as will supply needs for customers in Greece and Bulgaria.

Total gas demand in Greece last year between June 15 and August 15 reached 8.1 TWh and is expected to rise to 9.2 TWh for the equivalent period this summer, according to DEPA.

Gas grid operator DESFA’s incoming LNG shipments for this period this summer will amount to 7.3 TWh, dramatically up from a 2.4 TWh total unloaded at the Revythoussa terminal on the islet off Athens during the summer period last year, according to the operator.