Lignite-fired power plants operated by Greek Public Power Corporation remain essential to ensure electricity supply security by countering various concerns that may arise, including voltage instability at the network’s northern section, despite their increased operational costs.
Electricity transmission system operator ADMIE needed to keep one or two lignite-fired power plants in operation throughout most of May, despite the high operational costs, which would normally keep these units offline.
The northern section of the country’s electricity network can be susceptible to voltage instability as a result of the international interconnections in the wider area, facilitating exports. Until recently, Western Macedonia region was the country’s energy epicenter, due to a number of lignite-fired units in the area.
Regular use of higher-cost lignite-fired generation has increased price levels in the day-ahead and balancing markets, which, by extension, is increasing costs for suppliers. PPC’s increased CO2 emissions, when the utility’s lignite-fired power plants are brought into operation, is also directly impacting industrial consumers, who are burdened by the resulting additional cost, passed on by the utility.
