Gas is returning to the Southeast European investment agenda, but its role is changing.
The strongest August developments were centred on supply diversification, infrastructure and selective new gas-to-power investment rather than a broad return to conventional baseload expansion.
DEPA Commercial delivered 500 GWh of LNG to Bulgartransgaz through the Alexandroupolis FSRU, marking the Bulgarian transmission operator’s first use of LNG from the terminal for system requirements.
The transaction strengthens the north-south corridor connecting Greek LNG infrastructure with Bulgaria and markets further north.
That matters because SEE gas security has historically depended heavily on east-west pipeline flows.
Additional LNG entry points reduce dependence on a single route and create greater competition between pipeline supply and imported LNG.
Regulatory integration is moving alongside the physical network.
EU gas network-code rules began extending to external borders with Energy Community Contracting Parties, covering areas such as capacity allocation, balancing and interoperability.
Serbia is planning a larger domestic infrastructure programme.
Belgrade and the World Bank are preparing a multi-year package approaching €1 billion, initially centred on the Niš-Velika Plana pipeline and potentially followed by storage expansion and additional transmission links.
The country is also working with SOCAR on a preliminary feasibility study for a planned approximately 500 MW gas-fired combined heat and power plant near Niš, with a possible development horizon around 2030.
The project remains at an early stage.
Greece has a more advanced proposal.
Larissa Thermoelectric awarded AVAX an EPC contract for a planned 794 MW CCGT based on Mitsubishi Power technology, although final investment decision is still expected later in 2026.
The economics of such plants will differ from older gas-fired generation.
As solar and wind penetration rises, annual operating hours may decline even while selected high-price periods become more valuable.
That means new CCGTs will increasingly depend on market spreads, capacity remuneration, ancillary services and the ability to operate efficiently at variable load.
The gas asset of the future is therefore likely to be valued less by how many hours it can run and more by how economically it can perform during the hours when the system chooses to call it.
