The monthly emissions from each power plant in Greece are estimated based on the latest available electricity production data (October 2024 for the interconnected network and September 2024 for the non-interconnected islands) and the annual CO2 emissions from ETS (2023), following the methodology and assumptions presented here.
Carbon intensity of electricity production
Carbon intensity1 is an important indicator of the decarbonization of the power sector. Low carbon intensity means a cleaner electricity production mix, less dependent on polluting fossil fuels.
Carbon intensity has been reducing significantly throughout the last decade. Up until 2019, carbon intensity fluctuated above 500 g CO2/kWh, while in 2023 it fell at 312 g CO2/kWh.
Progress continues into 2024 as in the first ten months of the year, the average carbon intensity fell further to 259 g CO2/kWh. In October, the lowest monthly carbon intensity (216 g CO2/kWh) historically was recorded, due to reduced lignite production and increased RES production. In particular, lignite production was the second lowest historically, while renewable energy production was the fourth highest.
Emissions in 2024 could have been reduced even further if curtailments from renewable energy had been avoided and the corresponding quantity of energy was allocated to limit the production of gas plants. In total, in the first ten months of 2024 814 GWh were curtailed. Taking into account the carbon intensity of these months, 196 thousand tons of carbon dioxide could have been avoided, an amount approximately equal to the emissions of the oil plant on the island of S. Rodos during that period.
Emissions per fuel
In October 2024, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants fell below 1 million tonnes (0.91). In fact, they are the second lowest emissions historically, after April 2022 (0.82 million tonnes).
In total, in the first ten months of 2024 an estimated 12.1 million tons of CO2 were emitted for electricity production. Emissions from fossil gas plants exceeded 50% of the Greece’s total (6.43 million tonnes or 53.2%). In fact, they were more than twice as high as those of lignite plants (3.17 million tonnes or 26.2%). The share of oil plants in the non-interconnected islands was smaller (2.49 million tons or 20.6%).
Emissions from the electricity production sector decreased only by 0.62 million tonnes (or -4.9%) in the first ten months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Thia is mainly due to the increase in the use of fossil gas. The emissions from fossil gas plants increased by +1.16 million tonnes (or +22%), due to a corresponding 26.8% increase in electricity production from fossil gas plants in the first ten months of 2024. In contrast, emissions from lignite plants decreased (-1.75 million tonnes or -36%) because of a 34.5% reduction in electricity production from lignite plants. Finally, emissions from oil plants remained almost the same compared to the first ten months of 2023 (+0.004 million tonnes or +0.2%).
Compared to the five-year average, total emissions in the first ten months of 2024 decreased by 4.7 million tonnes (-28%). The decrease came only from two fuels (lignite and oil), the largest being from lignite (-4.86 million tons or -60.5%). It is noteworthy that at the beginning of the five-year period (2019), emissions from lignite plants (13.96 million tons) were more than four times higher compared to the first ten months of 2024. Oil followed in decrease (-0.14 million tonnes or -5.3%), while fossil gas recorded an increase (+0.30 million tons or +4.8%).
Emissions per thermal power plant
In terms of the distribution of emissions among power plants, the lignite power plant of Agios Dimitrios retained 1st place in the first ten months of 2024, emitting 1.93 million tons of CO2 (60.8% of the total lignite emissions), with a decreased production compared to previous years. In the first five months of 2024, it operated three of its five units (III-V), those covering the district heating of the city of Kozani, in June only unit III operated with low production (19.3 GWh), in July and August all five units of the plant operated, in September the last unit (V) did not operate, while in October only units III & V were in operation, covering all lignite-based electricity production for the month.
Ptolemaida 5 fell to third place with 1.02 million tonnes in the ten-month period, as it had zero production in October. The third lignite power plant, Meliti, was in 18th place with 0.21 million tons, while the fourth lignite plant, Megalopoli IV, which is still available, was ranked 29th as it only operated minimally in June 2024 (9.14 GWh).
As regards fossil gas plants, in 2nd place in the overall ranking was Agios Nikolaos II (1.1 million tons), while in the 4th, Megalopoli V (0.86 million tons), which displaced in the 5th Lavrio IV-V (0.81 million tons). Fossil gas-fired plants in total accounted for 67% of the emissions from thermal plants in the country’s interconnected grid (lignite and fossil gas together).
In the non-interconnected islands, two out of the three oil stations located in Crete (Aterinolakkos, Linoperamata) and the oil plant in Rhodes were the top polluters with emissions of 0.56, 0.44 and 0.23 million tons respectively in the first ten months of 2024. Cumulatively, the top three polluting oil stations represent almost 50% of the total emissions on the non-interconnected islands. They are 6th, 13th and 15th respectively in the general ranking of all thermal power plants in the country in terms of emissions.
Emissions of PPC ‘s thermal power plants
PPC seems to remain committed to drastically reducing its carbon footprint. Specifically, in its new strategic business plan for the 2024 – 2026 period, presented in January 2024 at the Capital Markets Day in London, it committed to reducing emissions from its thermal plants to 5.9 million tons in 2026, a reduction of 75% compared to 2019 levels. This commitment can be used to determine annual carbon budgets for the period 2024-20262.
In the first ten months of the year, PPC’s thermal plants emitted 8.03 million tons, a 16.2% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. This reduction is more than three times higher than the corresponding percentage reduction recorded in the emissions of all thermal plants in the country (-4.9%). Therefore, PPC’s remaining carbon budget for the remaining three months of 2024 is 1.58 million tons, that is 16.4% of the total coal budget for the year. Based on the ten-month climate performance, PPC is marginally off track to meet the target3.
You can see the evolution of the electricity sector emissions since 2013, as well as read the analyses from previous months here.
- Carbon intensity is defined as the ratio of emissions from the three fossil fuels (lignite, gas and oil, including CHP) to Greece’s total electricity production from the interconnected grid and the non-interconnected islands.
- Assuming that the reduction in emissions from 11.47 million tons in 2023 to 5.9 million tons in 2026, set as a target by PPC in its business plan for this year in its business plan 2024-2026, is linear the available budget for 2024 is estimated at 9.61 million tons
- These emissions, as well as the electricity production of non-interconnected islands for the months of 2024 which have not yet been published, are estimated based on data from previous years.
