western corridor

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.

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’s Western Corridor power line to be delivered next month

RAE launches inquiry into ‘western corridor’ grid delay