Greek gas, lignite generation boost trims December 2020 import needs

London — Increased gas- and lignite-fired generation in December 2020 reduced Greece's power import needs while domestic demand rose, data from market operator Hellenic Energy Exchange SA showed Jan. 20.

At 4.23 TWh, December demand was up 9% on November 2020 but down 3% on December 2019.

Domestic generation of 4.11 TWh was up 14% on the month and 28% on the year, led by strong natural gas and renewables performance, and a revived lignite contribution.

While down on the year, lignite output of 808 GWh was the highest monthly outturn for the source in 11 months and helped push net imports down on the month by 24% and by 77% on the year.

Nevertheless, lignite's full year 2020 output of 4.80 TWh was down 5.58 TWh year on year as the sector moves toward phase-out. All of Greece's seven existing lignite generation sites, totaling about 2.8 GW of installed capacity, are to be shut by 2023, according to government plans.

Gas-fired generation continued to displace lignite last year. Combined-Cycle Gas Turbine, or CCGT, output of 19.26 TWh in 2020 was up 2 TWh from 2019.

In the market, average system spot baseload prices in December of Eur58.93/MWh ($71.41/MWh) were up 12% on the month, and were only 1% down on the year.

Stronger conventional thermal output saw state generator PPC's domestic generation market share rise sharply to 47.53% in December from November's 40.82% while DAPEEP, the system operator's renewable energy single buyer subsidiary, saw its share fall to 20.51% from 27.24%.

Then came the country's independent CCGT operators: Mytilineos, at a 7.92% share, Elpedison, 7.78%, and Korinthos Power, 5.19%, a plant that is 65% owned by Mytilineos.

New entrant renewable asset manager Optimus Energy bolstered its emerging position with a market share of 4.22% in December, up from 3.66% in October.

GREECE: ENERGY BALANCE DEC 2020 (GWh):

Figures rounded to nearest integer. November 2020 data derived from new DAM-IDM report. November 2019 data derived from DAS report

Source: Hellenic Energy Exchange SA