PPC TO BUILD NEW POWER PLANT
Following a recent board resolution Greece’s only electricity utility, the Public Power Corporation (PPC) announced that it will move ahead with its plans to build a new power plant in Lavrion,a port city 67 kms south east of Athens, where PPC already has a large power station complex. The new plant will have 400 MW of installed capacity which will be added to 1,100 MW units currently in operation at the Lavrion complex. PPC's latest plant in Lavrion is a 600 MW gas fired combined cycle plant which came on stream in early 1999.
The planned state of the art 400 MW plant will also use natural gas as its prime fuel. Greece currently imports 2.0 BCM’s of natural gas per year from Russia,via pipeline from Gasprom,and from Algeria in LNG form from Sonatrach.
According to Ministry of Development sources,where PPC’s politically appointed management reports, an application will now have to be lodged by PPC with the Regulatory Energy Authority(RAE) which is the country’s energy supervisor. PPC will now apply to RAE for a permit to build and operate the new plant. PPC is anxious to increase its power capacity in the Attica area where a great deal of the country’s power demand originates and which is expected to rise sharply with the organisation of the Athens olympic games in the summer of 2004.
A latest report commissioned by RAE and prepared on its behalf by the electrical power laboratory of the National Technical University (NTU),recommends that the system’s capacity is increased by a minimum of 1,500 MW by 2005 of installed capacity if the country is to avoid power shortages. The interconnected system currently comprises of approx. 10,000 MW of capacity-consisting mainly of lignite thermal and hydro plants-which are all owned and managed by PPC. Even if construction of new power plants starts in early 2003 these will not be operational before the end of 2004. It assumed that a minimum of three plants will be required to meet the capacity goal of 1,500 MW. RAE would like all three plants to be build by private power companies,which will invest in the projects, as it is keen to introduce some form of competition in the country’s power sector in line with EU commitments. RAE has already awarded six (6) licenses to different groups which have plans to construct and operate new power plants totalling some 4,000 MW of new capacity. However, no progress has been made so far since the private investors and banks concerned are hesitant to advance with their plans as the present legal framework controlling power generation does not provide adequate guarantees and thus does not safeguard the necessary investments.
According to market sources,PPC’s decision to go ahead and construct a new major plant helps the government to meet increased power demand,
which on average moves at 4.0% yearly, but is not helping in the direction of liberalising the electricity market. The minister for development, and in charge of the country’s energy sector, Mr. Akis Tsochatzopoulos, in recent statements has assured private investors that the government has prepared and will submitt to parliement before the end of November, legislation which will enable the financing and operation of the private power plants which have already received operating licenses from RAE.
Costis Stambolis