The monthly emissions from each power plant in Greece are estimated based on the latest available electricity production data (October 2023 for the interconnected network and September 2023 for the non-interconnected islands) and those of the annual CO2 emissions from ETS (2022), as well as the methodology and assumptions presented here.
Emissions per fuel
A total of 12.33 million tonnes of CO2 were emitted in the first ten months of 2023 for electricity production. After three consecutive months in which emissions from fossil gas plants exceeded those from lignite plants, this is now also observed in cumulative emissions, as in the first ten months of 2023 emissions from fossil gas plants (5. 06 million tonnes & 41% share) exceeded by 0.14 million tonnes the emissions from lignite plants (4.92 million tonnes & 39.9% share). The remaining 19.1% of emissions came from oil plants (2.35 million tonnes). This change in the ranking is mainly due to the overall decline of lignite in the power production mix and partly due to the substitution of the old more polluting lignite units by the new PPC lignite unit “Ptolemaida 5”, which in October 2023 covered almost all electricity production from lignite (317 GWh or 88.4%).
Total emissions from the sector decreased by 3.79 million tonnes or 23.5% compared to the same period in 2022, as a result of the downward trend in emissions from all three fossil fuels. The largest part of the decrease was from lignite units (-2.21 million tonnes or -31% compared to 2022), reversing the trend which existed up to July in cumulative emissions, according to which the largest reduction was coming from fossil gas. The decrease in lignite was followed by a decrease in emissions from fossil gas (-1.3 million tonnes or -20.1%), while the smallest contribution in the reduction came from oil plants, whose emissions have decreased by 0.31 million tonnes (-11.7%) compared to the same period in 2022.
An even greater decrease of 7.15 million tonnes was recorded compared to the five-year average (-36.7%), where total emissions from the power sector from all three fuels were 19.47 million tonnes in the first ten months of the year. This was primarily driven by the reduction in lignite production, resulting in a 5.92 million tonnes (-54.6%) reduction in emissions from lignite plants in the first ten months of the year compared to the five-year average (10.84 million tonnes). It is noted, that in the beginning of the five-year period (2018), lignite emissions (18.98 million tonnes) were almost four times higher than the ones in 2023. The second largest contribution to emissions reductions after lignite was made by fossil gas-fired plants which reduced their emissions by 0.86 million tonnes (-14.5%) compared to the five-year average, followed by emissions from oil-fired plants which were reduced by 0.37 million tonnes (-13.6%).
Emissions per thermal power plant
In terms of the distribution of emissions among power plants, the first by far continued to be the lignite power plant of Agios Dimitrios, with cumulative emissions in the ten months of 2023 of 2.61 million tonnes, even though in the last four months (July-October 2023) the plant’s electricity production has been decreasing continuously. In particular, in October, only two of its five active units (III, IV) operated, delivering only 41.4 GWh (11.6% of total lignite-fired electricity production).
In second place was the new lignite unit of PPC “Ptolemaida 5” (1.37 million tonnes), which since June has been used as the main lignite production unit, with a significantly increased contribution compared to Agios Dimitrios. In fact, in October 2023, it had the largest share of emissions from the lignite plants (82.7%), despite the low emission factor compared to other plants[1]. The top three lignite plants were completed by the Megalopolis IV lignite plant, which due to its zero production in October, dropped one place in the overall ranking, and thus came 5th, emitting 0.57 million tonnes in the 10 months to 2023.
In 3rd place in the ranking of the largest polluters in electricity production was the “Megalopoli V” fossil gas plant with emissions of 0.93 million tonnes, marking in October 2023 the highest monthly production of the year (388 GWh). It was followed by the Lavrio IV-V gas plant with 0.65 million tonnes, while the high-efficiency combined heat and power (CHP) plant of Aluminum was ranked sixth with 0.52 million tonnes.
In the non-interconnected Islands, two of the three oil stations located in Crete (Atherinolakkos and Linoperamata) lead in emissions with total emissions of 0.81 million tonnes in the first ten months of 2023. In fact, Aterinolakkos (0.46 million tonnes) climbed to 8th place leaving behind 7 fossil gas plants and one lignite plant. This was followed by the Soroni station in Rhodes (0.3 million tonnes), and then the oil station in Kos (0.23 million tonnes), which moved up 3 places. In total, the top four oil plants in terms of emissions account for 57.7% of total emissions in the non-interconnected islands.
Emissions of PPC ‘s thermal power plants
In 2021, PPC signed three bond loans containing sustainability clauses. Under the first two, with a total amount of 775 million €, emissions from PPC’s thermal power plants were to be reduced by 40% in 2022 compared to 2019 levels, while the sustainability clause of the third bond loan of 500 million €, imposed a 57% reduction in 2023 compared to 2019 levels.
Based on the ETS data for all PPC’s thermal plants in 2022, total emissions were 14.92 million tonnes, a 35.3% reduction compared to 2019 levels (23.09 million tonnes), about 4.7 percentage points or 1.07 million tonnes of CO2 away from the -40% target (13.85 million tonnes) corresponding to the viability clause of the first two bonds.
Regarding the third bond, which relates to PPC’s climate performance in 2023, emissions from the company’s thermal plants for the first ten months of 2023 are estimated at 9.38 million tonnes – an all-time low. Moreover, they appear to be down 26.2% compared to the same period in 2022, when total emissions from PPC plants were 12.7 million tonnes. The improvement is mainly attributed to the reduction of emissions from lignite plants (-2.21 million tonnes), secondarily to the reduction from PPC-owned fossil gas plants (-0.81 million tonnes), and finally to that from oil plants (-0.31 million tonnes).
Despite this progress, however, and given that the -57% sustainability clause requires emissions to be limited to 9.93 million tonnes by 2023, the carbon budget remaining in the business at the end of the year is 0.55 million tonnes. Therefore, so far, 2 months before the end of 2023, the utility has spent 94.5% of its total carbon budget for the year. As electricity production from PPC’s most polluting lignite units is expected to increase in the next two months, mainly due to the coverage of district heating needs in Western Macedonia, it is considered certain that PPC will exhaust the carbon budget of its thermal units before the end of 2023, probably in mid-November.
Despite this progress, however, and given that the -57% sustainability clause requires emissions to be limited to 9.93 million tonnes by 2023, the carbon budget remaining in the business at the end of the year is 0.55 million tonnes. Therefore, so far, 2 months before the end of 2023, the utility has spent 94.5% of its total carbon budget for the year. As electricity production from PPC’s most polluting lignite units is expected to increase in the next two months, mainly due to the coverage of district heating needs in Western Macedonia, it is considered certain that PPC will have exhausted the carbon budget of its thermal units before the end of 2023, probably in mid-November.
You can see the evolution of the electricity sector emissions since 2013 as well as read the analyses from previous months here.
[1] It is recalled that regarding Ptolemaida 5, as emission factor for the unit is considered the value of 1 tn/MWh, which is indicated in the environmental impact study of the plant. This is a choice made necessarily, because there is no electricity production and emissions data from past years- as in the other plants – through which the actual average emission factor is estimated.
