Greece’s PPC boosts pumped storage hydropower project pipeline to 1.6 GW

PPC obtained an electricity storage permit for a pumped storage hydropower project at an open-cast lignite mine in Kozani in northern Greece. The proposed facility with 227 MW in generation mode lifted the company’s investment portfolio in the segment to more than 1.6 GW.

Government-controlled Public Power Corp. (PPC) is rushing to stop using coal and switch to renewables and gas. As the trailblazer of decarbonization in Greece, with an extensive hydropower plant portfolio, it aims to back its green electricity investments both with batteries and pumped storage. PPC is preparing to build six pumped storage hydropower plants.

Newmoney reported that the power utility has just received an electricity storage license from the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Waste and Water (RAAEW) for one such facility at an open-cast pit in Kozani. The South Field Mine site is in Greece’s Western Macedonia coal hub, which is undergoing a major transformation.

The South Field Mine is part of the Western Macedonia coal hub in northern Greece

The six projects amount to more than 1.6 GW. The country hosts an overall 699 MW in pumped storage capacity at the Sfikia plant in the Central Macedonia province, also in northern Greece, and the Thisavros hydroelectric facility, east from there. Both belong to PPC.

Except for Ptolemaida 5, the newest coal plant in Southeastern Europe and beyond, for which the decision is pending, the company intends to shut down all such power stations in Greece by 2026.

Regulator licensed projects of 5 GW in total so far

There are some thirty projects with licenses from RAAEW, with more than 5 GW in total and a combined storage capacity of 44 GWh.

The one at the South Field Mine is envisaged with up to 227 MW in generation mode and pumps of an overall 221 MW, the documentation shows. PPC expects the system to store as much as 3 GWh.

It plans to obtain bank loans and sell equity to fund the pumped storage hydropower plant, the regulator said. The permit has a duration of 35 years.

PPC has second Sfikia pumped storage project underway

Within the application cycle in June 2023 for storage licenses, PPC got four for pumped storage projects. It already had one for the Kardia mine, of 148 MW. The site is near Kozani.

The Mavropigis Mine project is located in Ptolemaida in the Municipality of Eordaia, near Kozani as well. The envisaged pumping mode there is 156 MW, compared to 150 MW in pumping mode. The capacity would be 1.2 GWh, according to the permit.

The sites of three of six current projects are in the Kozani area and another two are nearby

PPC intends to install a pumped storage hydroelectric facility of 467 MW and 441 MW, respectively, at the Sfikia reservoir in Central Macedonia. The project is different than the abovementioned existing plant with the same name. The capacity would be 3.6 GWh.

The company received a license a year ago also for a 460 MW / 432 MW project at Greece’s third-largest lake, Vegoritida. It is in Amyntaio in Western Macedonia. Its planned capacity is 3.6 GWh.

The fourth investment under development is for a system of 183 MW in generation mode, pumps of 181 MW and 1.3 GWh in storage capacity. The site is at a mine in the country’s other coal complex, in Megalopolis in the Peloponnese peninsula.

Two more projects emerge from last application round

In the meantime, Terna Energy is building its Amfilochia pumped storage hydropower plant. According to the schedule, it will come online in early 2026, the article adds. Masdar is taking over the Greek company.

Applications for 43 energy storage projects were submitted last month, for a total capacity of 2.5 GW.

They include a system of 500 MW that HELLENiQ Renewables plans in Grevena in Western Macedonia and Enercoplan’s investment in 375 MW in Arta in Epirus.