According to the latest available monthly data from the Greek IPTO (ADMIE) for the interconnected network (August 2023):
Renewables maintained the lead in electricity production in the first eight months of 2023 cumulatively (14224 GWh), surpassing fossil gas and lignite together (12753 GWh) by 1.5 TWh. Following a steadily increasing trend over the last 10 years, renewables were in first place in the first eight months of 2022 as well, but back then there was a much smaller difference with fossil gas (+109 GWh in 2022 compared to +4573 GWh in 2023) and was behind the cumulative contribution of fossil gas and lignite by 3886 GWh.
Additionally, in the first eight months of 2023 and despite the “dip” in 2023 compared to 2022, fossil gas remained in second place (9651 GWh), while net imports were in third place with 4530 GWh. This was followed by lignite (3102 GWh), and large hydro (2459 GWh). Lignite in particular reached an all-time low in terms of its contribution in the first 8 months of the year.
The large decrease of gas in the contribution to electricity production during the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2022 (-3499 GWh), and the smaller decrease from lignite (-893 GWh) and large hydro (-564 GWh), were primarily offset by the large increase in net imports (+2618 GWh), then by the reduction in electricity demand (-1380 GWh) and finally by the increased contribution of renewables (+965 GWh). The above sequence is a partial reversal of the situation up to June 2023, where the reduction in gas and hydro production was primarily offset by the reduction in demand. However, the very significant increase in demand the last two months -July and August 2023- reversed this trend cumulatively for the overall eight-month period.
The corresponding percentage changes in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2022 were as follows:
Lignite: -22.4%
Fossil Gas: -26.6%
Renewables: +7.3%
Hydro: -18.7%
Net imports: +136.9%
Demand: -3.9%
In total, in the first eight months of 2023, clean energy from renewables and large hydro (16683 GWh) exceeded fossil fuel-based production (12753 GWh) by almost 4 TWh, recording a historic record for the last 10 years. On the contrary, electricity production from fossil fuels during the same period reached an all-time low, having decreased by 25.6% compared to the same period in 2022.
Renewables set a record by covering 41.9% of demand in the first eight months of 2023, almost 4.5 percentage points above the previous high of 2022 (37.5%), while together with large hydro they covered almost half of demand (49.1%). The increase in domestic electricity production was even higher, as renewables together with large hydro had a share of 56.7%, exceeding the 2022 share in the same period by almost 8 percentage points (48.7%). The remaining demand in the first eight months was met by fossil gas with a share of 28.4% (the lowest since 2019), net imports with 13.3%, and lignite with 9.1% and hydropower with 7.2%.
Especially for August 2023:
- Renewables set a historic record for monthly electricity production (2231 GWh).
- Hydro production was the highest compared to the rest of the year (436 GWh), while imports were the lowest (268 GWh).
- Production from fossil gas (1620 GWh) was the second highest compared to the rest of 2023, but still 24.4% lower than August 2022.
- Demand (4928 GWh) was the second highest for 2023 and up 267 GWh compared to the same month last year.
Demand was increased by 5.7% in August 2023 (4928 GWh) compared to August 2022, for a second consecutive month in 2023. The first time was in July after twelve consecutive months in which demand was down compared to the same month of the previous year. However, cumulative consumption for the first eight months of 2023 (33978 GWh) fell by 3.9% compared to the same period last year, recording a five-year low and by 3.1% compared to the average of the last five years.
