Greece presents 3.5 GW standalone battery storage rollout plan

The Greek Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has increased its target for a merchant standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) rollout to 3.55 GW against the background of a rising demand for flexible power and strong investment interest in the market.

The draft plan presented on February 21 ups the target from the initially planned 1.5 GW and far exceeds any deployment scenarios considered in the past. The government now aims for 2.65 GW of battery projects on the transmission grid and a further 900 MW on the distribution grid.

According to the Greek National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), the nation aims to install 4.3 GW of storage by 2030. Thus far, 900 MW has been allocated via the Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy, Waste, and Water (RAAEY) tenders. Therefore, the remaining share would be delivered under the new plan but without any subsidy support.

To qualify for a priority connection, BESS projects would need to be environmentally approved and to have submitted a request for a final connection. Furthermore, the investors would need to present a loan pre-approval or equity capital for the project.

In terms of technological requirements, the BESS projects would need to offer at a storage duration of at least two hours. They would need to have full cycle efficiency of at least 80% and be capable of providing backup power services. They must be insured against safety incidents and have provisions for dismantling and recycling at the end of their service life.

To ensure speedy delivery of the projects, the draft document envisages that BESS projects would need to submit a declaration of readiness within 14 months following the acceptance of their final connection requests and without taking into account the commissioning period. If they fail to do so, project proponents will pay the EUR 200,000 per MW letter of guarantee required for transmission-connected projects and EUR 50,000 per MW that applies to distribution-connected projects.

Furthermore, the document introduces a limit of 200 MW in combined applications per natural or legal person and 500 MW for all projects that one person can develop in the five-year period, that is, until 2030.

The following categories would be applied to BESS projects connected to the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE) network:

• The first 500 MW (category A1) concern BESS that has entered into offtake agreements of at least eight years duration with energy-intensive industries.
• The next 100 MW (category A2) applies to BESS that has offtake agreement with businesses. The minimum power output of these systems should 10 MW and not exceed the maximum annual consumption power of the business in 2024.
• An additional 250 MW (category B) concern BESS installed in former lignite areas.
• Finally, the large volume of 1.8 GW (category C) concerns all BESS that do not belong to the above categories.

In the case of BESS connected to the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO) network, the following categories are envisaged:

• The first 400 MW (category A) concern BESS with a maximum power output greater than or equal to 5 MW.
• The next 200 MW (category B) are those with a maximum power output of 1 MW to 5 MW.
• An additional 200 MW (category C) follows with a maximum injection power of less than 1 MW.
• Finally, another 100 MW (category D) is intended for investors that have concluded ottake agreements with businesses for a duration of at least eight years. The maximum power output of these systems must be less than 10 MW and not exceed the maximum annual consumption power of the business in 2024.

The draft document was presented last week by Minister of Energy Thodoros Skylakakis and Deputy Minister Alexandra Sdoukou following months of consultations with ADMIE and HEDNO. The public consultation period will last six days and close on February 27.