Plan in place for possible natural gas supply disruptions

The Greek government’s contingency plan in case of a complete shutdown of Russian natural gas flows to the country’s system provides for a series of measures that should secure adequate supply for Greek households and enterprises.

The emergency blueprint provides for increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be stored in Revythousa island’s tanks, the operation of five electricity production units that normally run on gas with the use of oil, provided that they can operate on alternative fuel, and the resumption of the operation of all lignite-fired power plants.

This, in short, was the recommendation that Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) President Athanasios Dagoumas presented at a meeting on Monday under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Talks covered all possible scenarios on possible problems to Greece’s supply with gas because of the crisis in Ukraine.

Although the above scenario (of a complete stop in flows) was considered extreme, the country is preparing even for that situation; the view that prevailed at the meeting is that Greece can this month (at least) meet demand without needing to resort to such emergency measures. That is thanks to the ample quantities secured – i.e. 1 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the quantities from LNG carriers booked by Public Gas Corporation (DEPA), Mytilineos, Elpedison and Public Power Corporation (PPC), all of which are set to reach Revythousa within February.

Therefore the contingency plan will be put into action next month, if necessary. In that case, PPC will turn on its old lignite production units and switch the Lavrio 4 and Komotini plants, with a capacity of more than 4 gigawatts, to using oil. PPC head George Stassis assured Mitsotakis the company has secured the necessary stock of lignite and oil.

Elpedison will also operate two units on alternative fuel, instead of gas, with a capacity of 800 megawatts, as will Heron with units of 120 MW.