The monthly emissions from each power plant in Greece are estimated based on the latest available electricity production data (November 2024 for the interconnected network and October 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 to 312 g CO2/kWh.
Progress continues into 2024 as in the first eleven months of the year, the average carbon intensity was 264 g CO2/kWh. However, November recorded the highest monthly carbon intensity of the year (318 g CO2/kWh), due to increased fossil fuel production. In particular, lignite production was the highest of the year, while fossil gas production was the third 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 eleven months of 2024, 847 GWh were curtailed. Taking into account the carbon intensity of these months, 206 thousand tons of carbon dioxide could have been avoided, an amount approximately equal to the emissions of the oil plant of South Rhodes during that period.
Emissions per fuel
In November 2024, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants (1.55 million tons) were the second highest of the year, after July (1.68 million tons).
In total, in the first eleven months of 2024 an estimated 13.64 million tons CO2 were emitted for electricity production. Emissions from fossil gas plants exceeded 50% of the country’s total (7.25 million tons or 53.2%). In fact, they were almost twice as high as those of lignite plants (3.72 million tons or 27.3%). The share of oil plants in the non-interconnected islands was smaller (2.67 million tons or 19.5%).
Emissions from the electricity production sector decreased only by 0.16 million tons (or -1.1%) in the first eleven months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The small decrease is mainly due to the increase in the use of fossil gas. The emissions from fossil gas plants increased by (+1.57 million tons or +22.7%), due to a corresponding 32.6% increase in electricity production in the first eleven months of 2024. In contrast, emissions from lignite plants decreased (-1.74 million tons or -31.8%) because of a 30.5% reduction in electricity production from lignite plants. Finally, emissions from oil plants remained almost the same compared to the first eleven months of 2023 (+0.006 million tons or +0.2%).
Compared to the five-year average, total emissions in the first eleven months of 2024 decreased by 4.6 million tons (-25.4%). The decrease came from only from two fuels (lignite and oil), the largest being from lignite (-5.05 million tons or -57.6%). It is noteworthy that at the beginning of the five-year period (2019), emissions from lignite plants (15.21 million tons) were more than four times higher compared to the first eleven months of 2024. Oil followed in decrease (-0.15 million tons or -5.6%), while fossil gas recorded an increase (+0.57 million tons or +8.5%).
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 eleven months of 2024, emitting 2.3 million tons CO2 (61.9% of the total lignite emissions), with a decreased production compared to previous years. In the first five months of 2024 and in November, 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) was not operating, while in October only units III & V were in operation, which also covered all lignite-based electricity production of that month.
Ptolemaida 5 was the third top polluter with 1.18 million tons in the eleven-month period, having the third highest production of the year (162 GWh). The third lignite power plant, Meliti, was in 18th place with 0.22 million tons, while the fourth lignite plant still available, Megalopoli IV, was 30th as it only operated minimally in June 2024 (9.14 GWh).
As far as fossil gas plants are concerned, in 2nd place in the overall ranking was Agios Nikolaos II (1.1 million tons), while Megalopoli V was 4th (0.86 million tons) and Lavrio IV-V was 5th (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, the three oil stations located in Crete (Aterinolakkos, Linoperamata and Chania) were the top polluters with emissions of 0.6, 0.47 and 0.25 million tons respectively in the first eleven months of 2024. Cumulatively, the top three polluting oil stations represent almost 50% of the total emissions on the non-interconnected islands. They are 7th, 13th and 16th 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 2024-2026. In particular, assuming that the reduction in emissions from 11.47 million tons in 2023 to 5.9 million tons in 2026 is linear, the available budget for 2024 is estimated at 9.61 million tons.
In the first eleven months of the year, PPC’s thermal plants emitted 9.1 million tons, a 12.9% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. This reduction is much higher than the corresponding percentage reduction recorded in the emissions of all thermal plants in the country (-1.1%). PPC’s remaining carbon budget for the remaining three months of 2024 is 0.53 million tons, that is 5.5% of the total coal budget for the year. Based on the eleven-month climate performance, PPC is off track to meet the target2.
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 fuels (lignite, gas and oil, including CHP) to the country’s total electricity production from the interconnected grid and the non-interconnected islands.
- Οι εκπομπές των θερμικών μονάδων, όπως και η ηλεκτροπαραγωγή των μη διασυνδεδεμένων νησιών για τους μήνες του 2024 που δεν έχουν δημοσιευτεί ακόμα, εκτιμώνται με βάση τα δεδομένα των προηγούμενων ετών.
