natural gas still participates with a high percentage in power generation mixture and even slightly higher in 2022 than in 2021, despite an 18% drop in demand compared to the previous year. Lignite, despite the goal of doubling production, also increased marginally, while the share of renewables fell by almost 10 percentage points.

In more detail, and according to the Energy Analysis Bulletin of the South Eastern European Energy Institute (IENE), the average system load reached 5,395 MW in December, up 5% m/m but down 18% y/y. The share of natural gas in the fuel mix for electricity generation increased by 1% to 43% from 42% in December 2021. Accordingly, the share of renewable energy decreased by 8% to 26% in December last year from 34% in December 2021. Lignite covered 11.2% of demand in 2022, representing a marginal increase from the 10% it covered in 2021.

As for natural gas, imports in 2022 will decrease by 17% compared to 2021, although in December it rose by 15% on a monthly basis. The total volume of natural gas imports in December 2022 reached 5.5 TWh, of which 3.9 TWh, i.e. 72% is LNG that arrived at Revitus and entered the system through Agia Triada. Imports of Russian gas in December fell to 13%, and Azerbaijani gas (through TAP) to 11%. The LNG contribution of 72% last December is considered one of the highest in recent years, highlighting the important role fuel already plays and is expected to play in the coming years in the context of moving away from Russian natural gas.

According to the latest available data from Eurostat on the monthly consumption of natural gas in the EU-27 member states, provided by Green Tank, from January to November 2022, Greece reduced its consumption by 18.7% compared to the same period in 2021 and rose by two positions. in the relative ranking compared to the previous month, take 11th place, which is six positions higher than the average for the EU-27 (-12.8%). There was also an improvement in relation to the average for 5 years, where Greece in November for the first time in 2022 showed a decrease in consumption (-3.2%). However, this indicator is still one of the worst in the EU-27 (5th from the bottom, behind Slovakia, Malta, Spain and Ireland).