Elpedison launches tender for Thessaloniki power station

Energy company Elpedison has launched an international tender for procurement of mechanical equipment concerning its 826-MW gas-fueled power station project in northern city Thessaloniki’s Diavata area, sources have informed.

The company, also moving ahead with the project’s environmental permit procedure, is expected to soon finalize its investment decision.

Besides Elpedison, a number of other energy firms are also moving ahead with gas-fueled power station plans.

GEK-TERNA is planning a 665-MW facility in Komotini, northeastern Greece; power utility PPC recently secured a license for a 665-MW unit, also in Komotini; Elvalhalkor is pursuing plans for a 566-MW unit in Thisvi; the Copelouzos group is moving ahead with a 662-MW project in the industrial area of Alexandroupoli, in the northeast; and the Karatzis group is planning a 660-MW power station in Larissa, in the mid-north.

The Mytilineos group has already begun constructing an 826-MW gas-fueled power station in Viotia’s Agios Nikolaos area, northwest of Athens, a project expected to be launched late this year or early next year.

The establishment of a permanent CAT mechanism, anticipated by the investors behind these projects, promising grid flexibility, is crucial for the investment plans.

Electricity demand levels in the Greek market as well as the course of Greece’s decarbonization effort, expected to create openings for new power stations, are also vital factors.

 

Ministry closing in on Kavala underground gas storage model

The energy ministry is close to deciding on a business model for a prospective underground gas storage facility in the offshore South Kavala region, the objective being to ensure the investment’s sustainability without overburdening consumers.

Numerous alternatives have been examined so far but a model applied in France and Italy appears to be the most favored, energypress sources informed.

The content of an upcoming joint ministerial decision is now at a mature stage following efforts that have now lasted nearly two years, energy ministry officials noted.

The ministerial decision will determine the licensing, development and exploitation terms for the project, 30km south of Kavala, where a depleted natural gas field is planned to be converted into an underground gas storage facility.

Swift progress is needed as Greece will need to request EU financing for the project, on the PCI list, in 2020. If the request is delayed until 2021 then the available funds could be severely diminished and absorbed by other European PCI-status projects.

The underground gas storage facility is vital for Greece’s electricity grid given the anticipated increase of gas consumption to be prompted by the planned development of combined cycle power plants. Five market players, Mytilineos, Elpedison, GEK TERNA, Elval Halkor and Karatzis, have expressed interest to develop such units.

Privatization fund TAIPED will take over proceedings for a tender once the project’s business model has been decided. The investment is expected to reach between 300 and 400 million euros. Its storage capacity is estimated at between 360 and 720 cubic meters.

Greece is the only EU member without an underground gas storage facility. All other member states maintain facilities covering at least 20 percent of their annual gas consumption needs. Many more similar facilities are currently being planned around Europe.

Independent energy players rushing to fill PPC lignite void

The country’s major independent energy groups are forging ahead with well anticipated plans to cover prospective electricity generating voids that will be created by power utility PPC’s withdrawal of lignite-fired units, now expected sooner following a government plan for a swifter withdrawal of all lignite-fired power stations, monopolized by the state-controlled power utility.

Speaking at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York last week, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared full decarbonization would be achieved in Greece by 2028.

The Prime Minister’s pledge for a lignite-free Greece in less than a decade has not taken domestic independent energy groups by surprise. As early as three to four years ago, they had foreseen an approaching end of the lignite era in Greece and around Europe.

So, too, had PPC’s leadership. But the corporation’s lignite monopoly, lignite dependence of local economies in lignite-rich areas, especially Greece’s west Macedonia region, as well as perpetual political interests attached to PPC over the years, have all played roles that have prevented the utility from turning to other energy sources such as natural gas and renewables.

Over the past year or so, major energy groups in Greece such as Mytilineos, GEK-TERNA, Copelouzos and Elpedison, as well as enterprises such as Elvalhalcor and Karatzis, have taken decisions to seek licenses for the development of new gas-fired power stations. The foundation stone of a Mytilineos unit in Boetia (Viotia), northwest of Athens, will be placed by the Greek Prime Minister at a ceremony scheduled for tomorrow.

A planned decarbonization process in neighboring Bulgaria, electricity needs in North Macedonia, and Greek power grid operator IPTO’s imminent upgrade of grid interconnections with Balkan neighbors, especially the aforementioned countries, are all creating further electricity export opportunities for Greek market players.

 

 

RES applications continue at steady rate, 2.5 GW in June

Production license applications concerning new RES projects have continued at a steady rate, while the balance between various technologies has remained unchanged, industry figures for June have shown.

Solar energy production license applications, numbering 126 of the overall 215 submitted in June, continued to hold the lion’s share and represented 2.1 GW of the 2.5 GW total.

As for wind energy, license applications for 76 projects with a total capacity of 384.71 MW were submitted in June. A total of 12 small-scale hydropower applications were made for a capacity of 10.03 MW. One cogeneration, or combined heat and power (CHP), application representing a capacity of 2 MW was made.

A total of 14 companies submitted multiple applications representing 119 projects with a capacity of 1,757.5 MW, of which 196.9 concern wind energy stations.

The 14 multiple applicants were: Juwi Hellas, New Solar Developments, Hellenic Petroleum Renewable Energy Sources, Egnatia Group, European Solar Farms Greece, Thessaloniki Energy Solar, Serres Power, Verde, Terna Energy, Siemens Gamesa, ABO Wind Hellas, Rensol Energy PV, Karatzis and Peloponnisiakos Anemos.

Applications submitted to RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, between December, 2018 and June represent a total capacity of 8 GW. They number over 1,000, placing pressure on the processing demands at RAE, authority official Dionysis Papahristou noted.

New gas-fired units reshaping electricity generation sector

Independent electricity producers, sensing opportunities, are reshaping the sector by planning the development of new gas-fired power stations to replace the power utility PPC’s outgoing lignite-fired units. The independent producers are even replacing power stations of their own, launched about 15 years ago, as part of the overall drive.

The country’s required withdrawal of old lignite-fired power stations operated by state-controlled PPC, as well as the implementation of the target model, beginning in the summer of 2020 with a link of the Greek and Italian electricity markets, followed by a Bulgarian link as a second stage, have been cited as the two main factors bringing about this change of scene in the electricity production sector.

The independent producers GEK TERNA (Heron), Mytilineos (Protergia) and Elpedison, as well as new arrivals such as the Copelouzos and Karatzis groups, have all expressed an interest to acquire licenses for the development of new power stations.

PPC, heavily reliant on lignite-based production, is gradually losing grip of its dominance in the electricity generation sector.

Pushed higher by the EU’s environmental policy, rising CO2 emission right costs, now nearing 30 euros per ton after being worth approximately 5 euros per ton a year-and-a-half ago, are a key factor in the developments.

PPC’s CO2-related costs rose to 279.5 million euros in 2018 from 141.6 million euros a year earlier.

Elpedison enters race for new gas-fueled power station

Elpedison has submitted an application to RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, for an electricity production license concerning an 826-MW combined cycle gas-fueled unit in the Thessaloniki area, next to an existing company unit.

The investment plan, estimated to be worth 400 million euros and requiring about two years to complete, is the fifth application submitted by as many companies for a gas-fueled power station.

The companies still need to make final business decisions to proceed with these investment plans. The country’s grid capacity is believed to have space for one or two new gas-fueled power stations over the next few years.

Production licenses have already been granted by RAE for some of the other four applications while the processing of the others is believed to have reached an advanced stage.

The Mytilineos group has applied for a 650-MW unit at the corporation’s energy hub at the Viotia (Boeotia) area’s Agios Nikolaos location, slightly northwest of Athens. The Copelouzos group submitted an application for a 660-MW unit Alexandroupoli, northeastern Greece; Gek-Terna is looking to develop a 660-MW gas-fueled power station in Komotini, in the north; and the Karatzis group, owner of the KEN electricity company, aims to develop a 665-MW in the country’s mid-north, in Larissa.

Copelouzos, Karatzis groups also planning gas-fueled units

The Copelouzos and Karatzis corporate groups are the latest energy-sector players planning to develop new natural-gas fueled power stations, following Mytilineos, already granted a production license, and Gek Terna, whose project plan had become known but was not officially announced until yesterday.

The Copelouzos group has applied to RAE, Greece’s Regulatory Authority for Energy, for a production license concerning a 660-MW combined cycle power plant in Alexandroupoli, northeastern Greece. The Karatzis group, owner of the electricity supplier KEN, has submitted an application to the authority for the development of a 665-MW combined cycle facility in the mid-north Larissa area.

The Copelouzos group submitted its application to RAE in December while the Karatzis group forwarded its bid to the authority last month, energypress sources have informed.

As has been previously reported, the Mytilineos group plans to develop a 650-MW facility in the Viotia area, northwest of Athens, while Gek Terna is preparing to set up a 660-MW gas-fueled unit in Komotini, northeastern Greece.

The similar capacities envisioned for all four project plans are not coincidental. Technical experts consider power plant capacities of approximately 660 MW as ideal for optimal efficiency.