In the last five years, Western Macedonia has to solve the difficult puzzle of transforming its economic model away from expensive fossil fuels. One of the challenges it has to face is that of heating and district heating, with the current planning being based on the “solution” of expensive fossil gas.
As shown in a recent Green Tank poll, citizens of Western Macedonia show a high level of awareness both in terms of the plan for the future of heating in their region and in terms of linking the energy crisis to fossil fuels. They also appear more positive towards sustainable solutions such as renewable energy sources and heat pumps.
On the other hand, the majority of them believe that lignite is the cheapest source of energy production – despite the fact that the cost of burning it has skyrocketed in the last decade as a result of the European Emissions Trading System – while almost one in five people in Western Macedonia say they are unaware of the plan for heating.
In an interesting discussion with journalist Antonis Mavridis on radio station ERT Kozani (10/07/2024), Nikos Mantzaris was asked to give answers to the justifiable counter-arguments from a region which for decades has paid the price of meeting the country’s energy needs, was hit harshly by the economic crisis and now looks forward to a cleaner but uncertain future.
The conversation started with the soaring energy prices, which is often wrongly associated with the lignite phase out. The Green Tank policy analyst explained that the rally in energy prices is due to the fact that we don’t have enough energy from renewables (mainly due to curtailments and increased demand at night) and need to substitute them with expensive fossil gas. Due to high energy prices, as it has a profit margin, equally expensive lignite has entered the energy mix with a small share.
The fall in energy prices therefore goes hand in hand with the increasing prevalence of renewables, combined of course with the installation of energy storage infrastructure which will ensure that any doubts about system instability and sufficient demand coverage are removed.
The issue of heating/heating in Western Macedonia should move in the same direction. A viable transitional solution needs to be designed first until 2028, when the CHP is expected to be completed, which is, however, a wrong choice. Instead, it is preferable to install cheap electric boilers with existing resources (e.g. the Green Fund) covering electricity costs. At the same time and at the same pace, however, a permanent solution must be planned, which must be based on a mix of renewable energy technologies in order to be cheap and sustainable in the long term.
For the installation and operation of these green solutions, there are programmes (such as Apollo or for photovoltaic and batteries for energy communities in lignite areas) that can be used so that the costs are not borne by citizens or local authorities.
Of course, according to Nikos Mantzaris, the increase of funds, the creation of new programmes, special care for the young people of Western Macedonia and greater support for citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises are considered necessary in order to provide a real counterbalance to the challenges experienced by the region after the lignite phase-out.
You can listen to the interview (in Greek) here.
