- The creation of the South East-North Electricity Highway could generate between €6.2 billion and €17.5 billion.
- Greece’s national grid operator upgrades power connections with Bulgaria, Italy, North Macedonia, Albania and Turkey and plans to connect Greece’s grid with Cyprus, Israel and Egypt.
A recent study by KPMG has shown that Greece could generate billions of euros for its economy by developing an electricity connection to central Europe and exporting the country’s vast potential in renewable energy to consumers in Germany and elsewhere. According to the study, the creation of the South East-North Electricity Highway – a project that Greece raised with its partners in Europe last year – could generate between €6.2 billion and €17.5 billion for the Greek economy while also lowering electricity prices for consumers and enhancing Europe’s energy security. The KPMG study also notes that Greece has led the rest of Europe in greening its power-generating sector by sharply reducing its use of lignite as a fuel source and, at the same time, ramping up production from renewable sources, particularly solar power.
The study notes, “The development of an interconnection to central Europe could be the first electricity highway in the EU and part of the Priority Electricity Corridor of Central Eastern and South Eastern interconnections. It targets the integration of markets, the reduction of electricity prices, the expansion of RES electricity, and EU’s overall security of supply. Greece is enacting extensive reforms within its energy sector to promote decarbonization and encourage the development of competitive markets. In absolute terms, the power generation sector in Greece has decreased its CO2 emissions by more than 58 percent compared to 2010 levels.” Over the last several years, Greece has emerged as a regional energy hub, serving both as a transhipment point for natural gas supplies to Southeast and Western Europe and as an exporter of electricity to its neighbours.
On Saturday, February 17, Greece received the first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) at Alexandroupolis. The FSRU will be connected to the 28-kilometre-long high-pressure subsea and onshore gas transmission pipeline, which, once operational, will deliver natural gas to the Greek Transmission System (NNGTS) and onwards to the final consumers in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia and further to Moldova and Ukraine to the East and Hungary and Slovakia to the West. With this project, Greece got its second LNG import facility, adding to DESFA’s import terminal located on the island of Revithoussa. The country’s national grid operator upgrades power connections with Bulgaria, Italy, North Macedonia, Albania and Turkey and plans to connect Greece’s grid with Cyprus, Israel and Egypt.