Greek gas-fired power plants are planned to contribute a total of 5.4 TWh to the energy mix in 2030, down from 19 TWh in 2022, a 72 percent reduction that will be unavoidable as a result of the influx of more renewables, Aristotelis Aivaliotis, the energy ministry’s General Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources, has told an Energyear conference, held in Athens.
Market players, responding to this diminished role for gas-fueled power stations, as set in an updated National Energy and Climate Plan’s goals for 2030, are already calling for a Capacity Availability Mechanism that could protect their financial sustainability.
Though the reduced role of gas-fueled power stations will put these facilities in the red, they will remain essential for energy security at times of lower RES production levels.
Market officials expect the financial standing of gas-fueled power stations to be destabilized well before 2030, as early as 2026, when at least 1.5 GW in new RES facilities are expected to have been added to the domestic electrical grid.
As a result, a Capacity Availability Mechanism will need to be ready for implementation by the end of 2025, they added.
Renewables are projected to have captured an 87 percent share of the energy mix in 2030, according to the revised NECP. This target will require an installed and operating RES capacity of 27 GW by the end of the decade