The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a Greek measure with an estimated budget of €341 million to support the construction and operation of storage facilities in the electricity system.
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The measure will be partly funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF'), following the Commission's positive assessment of the Greek Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by the Council.
The measure aims at allowing a smooth integration in the Greek electricity system of an increasing share of renewable energy coming from wind and solar sources. The scheme will also contribute to the EU's strategic objectives relating to the EU Green Deal.
The scheme notified by Greece will promote the establishment of several electricity storage facilities, with a joint capacity of up to 900 MW, connected to the high-voltage network. The projects will be selected through a transparent and non-discriminatory bidding process.
The award of the contracts to the selected projects should take place before the end of 2023 and the storage facilities should be completed by the end of 2025.
The aid will be granted, cumulatively, in the form of: an investment grant, which will be paid during the construction phase of all supported projects; and an annual support to be paid during the operations phase of the projects, for a 10-year period.
The total amount of annual support per beneficiary will be determined in a competitive tender and adjusted through a claw-back mechanism in case the project has excess market revenues from its participation to the market during the operations phase.
Electricity storage solutions, such as batteries, allow excess energy generated during periods of high renewable production to be stored and used later when weather conditions are less favourable. The share of renewable electricity in the mix is expected to rise considerably over the coming years, which is in line with the emission reduction targets.
Therefore, batteries, along with other types of electricity storage facilities, are going to become an increasingly indispensable component of decarbonised electricity systems.
Storage facilities installed in congested network areas could also provide network congestion relief, by absorbing locally produced renewable electricity, which would otherwise be curtailed due to the network's transmission constraints. ■