Photo: Pedro Farto on Unsplash
HELLENiQ Energy is progressing with its decarbonization efforts as a solar power project with batteries is underway to supply a refinery with green energy. The company is also preparing to pilot green hydrogen production, using surplus electricity from the photovoltaic unit.
In addition to building the largest solar power plant with bifacial panels in the Balkans and the recent acquisition of two photovoltaic parks in Cyprus, HELLENiQ Energy is also looking to decarbonize the operation of its refineries, Energypress reported. It plans to cover 100% of electricity needs of its oil refinery in Thessaloniki from a future solar park of several hundred megawatts, the article adds.
The facility is envisaged to be built nearby and include a battery storage unit, which would make it a hybrid power plant. In addition, as Chief Executive Officer Andreas Shiamishis recently revealed, a pilot project is under development for the production and use of green hydrogen. The electrolyzer would be powered by excess electricity from the photovoltaic system.
Green ammonia project is under consideration
A green ammonia unit is also being considered, the news website learned. The Greek oil refiner and petrochemicals producer and distributor is said to be aiming to get the facility online within five years.
In a speech to the company’s last general assembly, Shiamishis pointed to the impact of electricity supply disruptions in recent years due to forest fires and extreme weather. Investments in the energy autonomy of refineries would therefore benefit production stability.
HELLENiQ to make all refineries energy independent
The refinery in Elefsina or Eleusis, near Athens, is about to get a gas-fired heat and power plant that would meet all its energy demand, with an option to switch to diesel or another fuel, the media outlet wrote. HELLENiQ Energy is also planning to build the third cogeneration unit at its facility in Aspropyrgos, in the same area, to make it energy independent.
Late last month, the company announced its first green energy investment outside Greece. The two solar power parks it bought in Cyprus have a combined capacity of 15 MW and an estimated annual output totaling more than 27 GWh.
The facilities, located near Nicosia, also consist of two-sided photovoltaic panels. HELLENiQ Energy made the acquisition through its subsidiary HELLENiQ Renewables. In the statement, the company said it is looking to make its liquid fuel facility in Vassiliko energy independent as well.
The company changed its name from Hellenic Petroleum last year amid a rebranding wave in the fossil fuel sector, to mark a shift in focus toward renewables.
Domestic gas, oil and construction companies and their partners have failed to include their massive White Dragon plan in the EU’s important projects of common European interest (IPCEI). The endeavor, which included HELLENiQ Energy, was supposed to involve electrolyzers powered by several gigawatts of renewable electricity and a hydrogen research center. It was valued at over EUR 8 billion.
Be the first one to comment on this article.