The planned cut in Bulgaria’s electricity exports and the decline in water reserves, which will adversely effect hydroelectric power plants, threaten to destabilize Greece’s electricity grid this summer and next.
The Ministry of Development is looking for solutions, aware of the fact that no new power plants will become operative before the end of 2008.
According to ministry sources, the best that can be done this summer is to provide counterincentives to large consumers of electricity in order to keep peak consumption within limits. Additionally, farmers will be asked not to irrigate their farms around midday. The only other solution is to lease the Negotino power plant in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for the summer months, but that is far from any certainty.
In order to avoid a similar emergency during the summer of 2008, the Electricity Distribution Authority will call, within the next three months, for an additional 350-400 megawatts to be provided from wind-power installations.
(Kathimerini, 18/1/07)