Greece selects 12 projects in first battery auction while PPC boosts its pumped hydropower portfolio

The Regulatory Authority for Energy, Waste and Water (RAAEY) completed the selection process in the first energy storage auction in Greece.

According to the terms of the auction, each participant could apply with a maximum of 100 MW. Three companies divided it into separate investments. The indicative quota was for 400 MW in operating power, but accepted bids put together came in slightly higher:

In total, 12 battery storage projects from seven participants were selected in the auction:

• HELLENiQ Energy won with three projects – 50 MW, 25 MW and 25 MW, for a total of 100 MW,
• PPC Renewables was selected with two – 50 MW and 48 MW or a combined 98 MW,
• Intrakat’s Intra – S. Energy passed with 50 MW, 25 MW and 25 MW for 100 MW altogether,
• Aenaos, owned by Mytilineos, got one 48 MW project approved,
• Energeiaki Techniki is on the list with one proposed investment, just 7.8 MW,
• Energy Bank has one project, 50 MW,
• An energy community called Energeiaki Koinotita Meagapi Ilios got one project approved, 8 MW.

Also in line with the rules, all proposed projects would have a capacity, expressed in megawatt hours, two times higher than operating power. It means they can be charged or discharged for up to two hours at a maximum rate.

Overall, 93 offers were submitted for a total combined operating power of 3.3 GW. Pricewise, they were far below the ceiling of EUR 115,000 per MW per year. The highest bid, from Intra – S. Energy, was EUR 64,112, and the average landed at EUR 49,748. The minimum accepted sum, EUR 33,948, came from HELLENiQ Energy.

It should be noted that RAAEY plans a second energy storage auction for September with 300 MW on offer.

PPC turns to pumped hydro

In other news on energy storage in Greece, Energypress learned from unidentified sources that PPC Renewables’ parent – Public Power Corp. or PPC – plans to construct five pumped hydropower units of 1.41 GW in total capacity.

The group already operates two pumped storage hydroelectric plants with an overall 696 MW. It is said to be planning the first new procurement in 2024. Three locations are on former open pit lignite mines as the utility plans to turn them into a hotbed of new energy technologies together including batteries, the media outlet reported.

PPC has already received environmental terms for a pumped storage hydropower plant in Kardia in Greece’s main coal hub in the Western Macedonia province. It is envisaged with a capacity of 148 MW.

The two largest projects, 460 MW each, are planned to be located at lake Vegoritida in Western Macedonia and Sfikia in Central Macedonia, the article adds. The latter is a different project than PPC’s existing pumped storage unit of the same name.

Stassis: Tender for 450 MW of renewable energy projects commenced

PPC chairman and CEO George Stassis said earlier that the company is on track to install 4.9 GW in renewable energy capacity by 2026.

“In Greece, we recently commenced a tender for the installation of renewable energy projects of 450 MW and we also participated in the first energy storage auction with 100 MW, while we acquired licenses and environmental terms for renewable energy projects of 890 MW,” he pointed out at the presentation of the financial results from the first half of the year.