The development of battery energy storage is expected to further help keep electricity prices in check, compared to the levels that would have been reached if the system had relied on conventional fuels and imports, as was the case until a few years ago.
The capacity of the storage units (which was zero at the beginning of the year, as no batteries had been integrated into the system) is currently 630 megawatts. According to the government’s timeline, battery capacity will reach nearly 1 gigawatt by the end of the year, 1.5 gigawatts by mid-2027, and 3 gigawatts by 2028. A report by Aurora Energy on the energy storage sector in Greece through 2030 states that by the end of this year, batteries with a capacity of 900 megawatts will be in operation (711 megawatts of two-hour discharge capacity and 189 megawatts of four-hour capacity) will be in operation by the end of the year, followed by:
-333 megawatts through the «Energy Storage Systems for Businesses» program»
-4.7 gigawatts that will participate directly in the market, without support schemes (0.9 gigawatts in the distribution network—HEDNO and 3.8 in the transmission system—ADMIE)
-900 megawatts as part of the process provided for in Law 5151/2024 for converting the generation licenses of conventional power plants that are being shut down into storage licenses
Thus, the total storage capacity over the next four years will rise to 6.8 gigawatts.
Batteries help keep electricity generation costs down, as they store inexpensive energy at low, zero, or negative prices—generated during times of surplus production when it cannot be fed into the grid or exported. They then feed that energy back into the system when demand rises, and generation declines (e.g., when sunlight diminishes and solar power output drops), thereby replacing the more expensive conventional natural gas plants that currently meet those needs.
As Deputy Minister of Energy Nikos Tsafos notes in his remarks on the subject, a critical factor is that the development of energy storage in our country is taking place at a time when the cost of the technology is falling dramatically: from $1,474 per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to $159 in 2021 and $108 in 2025. In other words, the cost of batteries is projected to decrease by 32% in 2025 compared to 2021 and by a cumulative 93% since 2010. «If we had rushed to subsidize batteries too early, we would have paid through the nose for them (just like we did with solar panels 15 years ago),» the deputy minister said.
Renewable energy sources and the gradual expansion of energy storage have helped keep electricity prices relatively stable at both the wholesale and retail levels. The average wholesale price during the first 15 days of July stood at 111.67 euros per megawatt-hour, despite the turmoil in international energy markets and the rise in natural gas prices to over 50 euros per megawatt-hour.
The price is higher than in June (when it was 92.93 euros), but in the first half of the year it was lower than in all Central European countries (including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and others) and, overall, the sixth lowest in the European system.
K.Voutsadakis
