When storing, investment interest in the market changes electricity, taking into account the first tender for subsidized projects with a total capacity of 900 MW, expected around the end of June. As has happened in the past with wind turbines and more recently with photovoltaicsthe interest shown by investors is many times greater than the targets set in the revised National Energy and Climate Plan (ESEC). Before the first days of April, RAE approved licenses for storage systems energy with a total capacity of 26.64 GW when ESEK’s upgraded target calls for 8.1 GW by 2030 (5.6 GW from batteries and 2.5 GW from pumped storage projects).

For projects with a total capacity of 5.3 GW, an application has already been submitted for ADMI to connect to the grid and lead the… race for investment and operational support. ESEK’s goals are expressed in investments of 5 billion euros, which is at least three times the licensed investments, which are estimated at more than 16 billion euros.

Storage is technologies which will solve the problem of contemplation RES, i.e., the dependence of their production on weather conditions. Energy not consumed by excess production is stored and fed into the system when there is no wind or sun. The competent authorities and investors have been realizing for about two years in practice the serious problem created for the stability of the system by the large penetration of green energy without the possibility of storage. This is a common problem for power system operators across Europe, who, due to the lack of a storage tool, resort to reducing green generation to prevent the risk of blackouts. Further penetration of renewable energy now depends to a very large extent on the speed of development of storage systems.

For investors with significant RES production, storage will enable better portfolio utilization and predictability to participate in the wholesale market, as well as greater flexibility in entering into Green Bilateral Contracts (GBCs) with large electricity consumers or suppliers. In this sense, the transition to storage is a one-way street for investors who have already built significant portfolios of renewables.

At the forefront of the race for new storage technologies are TERNA Energy with projects totaling over 3GW, Portugal’s EDPR with 1.3GW, Mytilineos with 1.1GW, and PPC Renewables with over 1GW. GW. The list of RAE licenses also includes projects with a capacity of more than 300 MW and up to 880 MW from Motor Oil, Intrakat, Rokas, Ellactor, Kopelouzos, Kiffer, Green Progressive, the French companies EDF, AKUO Energy and Voltalia, the Italian Enel, as well as a large number of Greek and foreign companies with small projects.

Investors are waiting for the first auction of 450 MW projects, which will receive investment as well as annual operational support during the first ten years of operation. This is the first call for subsidized projects, and the second call for projects of similar capacity will be held at the end of the year. The tenders are part of the approval Greece has received from the EU. to support 900 MW storage projects with a budget of €341 million.

Conclusion of contracts for selected projects according to the relevant announcement. commissionshould take place before the end of 2023, and the installation of storage systems should be completed by the end of 2025. Recovery Fund Resources of €200 million have been allocated for storage projects and an additional €250 million has been allocated for the 680 MW TERNA pumped storage project in Amfilochia, which is already under construction.

Blackout alarm

European grid operators have a market reputation for being “conservative” with respect to green energy goals. The challenge of keeping systems stable, which simply means preventing shutdowns, makes them more realistic than the “architects” of a fossil-fuel phase-out policy and a market that is constantly looking for new investment opportunities. It is they who will have to maintain the system in any state and “blow up” all the failures of political planning. During the energy crisis, they were asked to restart decommissioned coal-fired power plants and reduce consumption due to production shortfalls caused by the curbing of Russian natural gas flows.

Periods of low consumption, such as weekends and holidays, hardly support the operation of systems that are at risk from a side invisible to consumers due to the high penetration of renewable energy. The production of wind and photovoltaic energy is not subject to the needs of demand, but to Beaufort and sunlight.

Storage technologies that can solve the problem of excess green generation are lagging far behind across Europe as operators resort to emergency and financially detrimental measures for renewable consumers and producers to prevent a general blackout. As the penetration of renewables grows, this problem becomes more difficult to address, and until the systems add enough storage capacity to absorb excess green generation, they will remain vulnerable during periods of low demand.

The administrator of Italy (Terna), citing the risk of a power outage on Easter Sunday, asked ADMIE to stop exports to the neighboring country.

Czech state utility CEPS was forced to take hundreds of solar farms off the grid on Easter Monday as consumption was drastically cut, as excess solar generation threatened the system with power outages. The Czech Republic did not have the possibility of assistance from neighboring states, i.e. ask for a reduction in exports, since, according to CEPS representative Hana Klimova, all countries except Denmark, Portugal and Slovenia had energy surpluses.

The Greek system faced a similar challenge and was forced to cut imports from Bulgaria and Italy, as well as RES production, on the two days of March 25 and 26, when a combination of low demand due to the holiday and strong wind and solar power brought the system to the brink of shutdown.

The next bet for ADMIE is to keep the system running during the Easter holidays. Competent ADMIE staff are on alert and in constant contact with DEDDIE to proceed with the implementation of emergency measures to prioritize the reduction of renewable energy production at a rate to be determined by weather conditions and which could be up to 50%. %. After consulting with the managers of neighboring states, he will also proceed to reduce imports, while he has already asked PPC and Mytilineos, and they have accordingly adjusted the test operation of their new units so that they do not work at low loads.

Moreover, very often in recent times, commissioned by ADMIE, the CPT commissions pumps at the Thesauros and Sfikia hydroelectric power plants in order to increase consumption by 600 MW and limit stability problems due to excess production of renewable energy.