Greek Capacity Auctions Cleared by EU

Plans for Greek electricity capacity auctions do not breach the European Union's rules on state aid rules, meaning that flexible power capacity providers such as gas-fired power plants, flexible hydro-plants and – in a second stage – demand-response and storage operators can obtain a payment for being available to generate electricity.

This flexibility in power capacity will allow the Greek power grid operator to cope with variability in electricity production and consumption, in particular during evening hours when falling solar energy generation clashes with rising demand for electricity, the European Commission said. To limit costs, the grid will select the flexible capacity providers through competitive auctions, with a maximum tendered volume of 4.5 GW. The measure will apply until the end of 2019.