Electricity consumers can expect long power cuts from May in order to avert a blackout this summer, when temperatures will be higher and the resulting problems much greater.
Well-informed sources suggest that Public Power Corporation (PPC) general directors have submitted a proposal to president and CEO Takis Athanasopoulos for scheduled power cuts during May in order to save hydroelectric reserves and meet demand during peak hours in the summer period.
The thinking behind this proposal is that the company should not operate its hydroelectric plants beyond the essential operation for the irrigation of farms and as a backup for the thermal plants in case the latter cannot meet demand.
Therefore cuts on a rotating basis will likely be required. The PPC administration is currently examining the idea and may well forward it for approval to the governing board of the company and then as a proposal to the grid administrator (DESMHE), which by law has the final say on any implementation of a program of power cuts. It will be very hard, however, to disregard or reject the proposal against a blackout from the country’s main electricity supplier, that is, PPC.
“PPC was the first to report the problem of the low water reserves to the competent authorities from the period of the strike, highlighting the danger from their use over the summer period. It is with the same sensitivity that we will make a proposal that the hydroelectric plants not be used during May for the purpose of meeting power demand, because in summer the water resources will be very precious, not only for the production of power but also for water supply and irrigation, particularly if the prolonged lack of rain continues,” said one PPC official.
(Kathimerini 31/03/2008)