The big comeback of lignite

Of Thanks to Floudopoulos

The production of electricity from lignite has shown a significant increase in recent days, as a result of the special conditions that have been created in the electrical system.

According to the IPTO system administrator, lignite production has more than doubled and now accounts for more than 20% of the total production mix, when just a few weeks ago lignites made a minimal contribution to meeting the system’s needs.

However, as market conditions have changed, the strategy to boost lignite production has already begun to emerge, which is currently emerging due to the explosion in gas prices, which is more competitive than electricity generation from gas units.

As it is known, the government has announced that it may extend the operation of the modern lignite units (Agios Dimitrios 5 and Meliti), while the new unit Ptolemaida 5, which will start operating after the end of the summer, may continue depending on the circumstances. to operate as lignite (and not be converted to a gas unit) by 2028.

As has already been announced by the Prime Minister himself, lignite production will increase by 50% within the next two years, temporarily, in order to address the high dependence on natural gas, while the measure will be re-evaluated based on market conditions and fuel availability.

In any case, despite the individual changes in the design, the main goal of the plan for complete de-ligation by 2028 remains in force.

Overduplication

According to the data of the IPTO manager, in the last few days the production of electricity from lignite has shown a significant increase and now represents more than 20% of the total production mixture.

Indicatively, last Saturday, lignite represented 25% of the production mixture, on Friday 23%, on Thursday 22%. On Monday the percentage of lignite was 19%, yesterday 17% while for today it is forecast to move to 21% according to IPTO data.

To understand the magnitude of the change, it is enough to note that in May lignite production represented only 5.8% of total production, while in January-May, the corresponding percentage was 9.3%.

Preparation

It is noted that PPC has already started the preparations since the beginning of the year in order to “build” stocks in the yards of the lignite units, which will be utilized depending on the needs in the summer or even next winter.

According to the plan submitted to the competent Ministry of Environment and Energy, it is foreseen to increase the lignite production to 6.5 or even 7 TWh by April 2023.

This program means that annual consumption will increase from 15 million tonnes of lignite to 16.5 million tonnes of lignite.

In 2021 the production of energy from lignite amounted to 5.3 TWh while the initial forecast for this year was 4.3TWh with a consumption of 10.4 million tons of lignite.

It is noted that so far the units of PPC Amynteo 1.2, Kardia 3.4 have been withdrawn, while for this year the same is expected to happen in the units Agios Dimitrios 1,2,3,4 and Megalopolis 3.

For 2023 the initial plan was to withdraw the units Megalopolis 4, Meliti and Agios Dimitrios 5 with a total capacity of 890MW, however the most likely scenario is that this plan will be modified.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that due to the withdrawals of the units, a reduction of PPC staff is recorded.

In Western Macedonia the permanent staff of PPC reaches 760 people from 1100 and in the mines 1400 from 2000 in 2019. Respectively in Megalopolis the permanent staff in the units is 250 people from 330 in 2019 and in the mines 320 from 410.