The carbon footprint of electricity production – December 2024

The monthly emissions from each power plant in Greece are estimated based on the latest available electricity production data (December) 2024 for the interconnected network and November 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 the average carbon intensity fell further to 269 g CO2/kWh. December recorded the highest monthly carbon intensity of the year (325 g CO2/kWh), due to increased fossil fuel production.

Emissions in 2024 could have been reduced even further if RES curtailments had been avoided and the corresponding quantity of energy was allocated to limit the production of gas plants. In total, in 2024 860 GWh were curtailed. Taking into account the carbon intensity of these months, 211 thousand tons CO2 could have been avoided, an amount approximately equal to the emissions of the oil plant on the island of S. Rhodes during that period.

Emissions per fuel

In December 2024, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants (1.62 million tons) were the second highest of the year, after July (1.68 million tons).

In total, in 2024 an estimated 15.25 million tons of CO2 were emitted for electricity production. Emissions from fossil gas plants exceeded 50% of the country’s total (8.08 million tons or 53%). In fact, they were almost twice as high as those of the lignite plants (4.33 million tons or 28.4%). The gap between gas and lignite emissions in 2023 was much smaller (only 0.05 million tons for gas compared to lignite). The share of oil plants on non-interconnected islands was smaller (2.84 million tons or 18.6%).

Emissions from the electricity production sector in 2024 increased marginally compared to 2023 by just 0.12 million tons (+0.8%). This is due to a very large increase in the use of fossil gas. More specifically, emissions from gas plants increased by 1.91 million tons (or +31%) due to a corresponding 35.9% increase electricity production from fossil gas in 2024. In contrast, emissions from lignite plants decreased by 1.79 million tons (or -29.2%) as a result of a 28.3% decrease in electricity production from lignite plants. Finally, emissions from oil plants remained almost the same compared to 2023 (-0.001 million tons).

On the contrary, there was a decrease in total emissions in 2024 compared to the average for the five-year period 2019-2023 (-4.9 million tons or -24.4%). This decrease came from only two fuels (lignite and oil), with the largest decrease coming from lignite (-5.49 million tons or -55.9%). It is noteworthy that at the beginning of the five-year period (2019), emissions from lignite plants (16.85 million tons) were almost four times higher than in 2024. The decrease from oil was much smaller (-0.2 million tons or -6.5%), while fossil gas recorded an increase (+0.78 million tons or +10.6%).

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 2024, emitting 2.73 million tons of CO2 (63.1% of the total lignite emissions), with a decreased production compared to previous years. For most of the year – a total of seven months (January-May and November-December) – three of the five units of the plant (III-V), those covering the district heating of the city of Kozani, were in operation.

Ptolemaida 5 was the third largest polluter overall, with 1.33 million tons in 2024; this is 0.4 million tons less emissions than in 2023, when it was in second place. The third lignite plant, Meliti, was 18th with 0.25 million tons, while the fourth lignite plant that remains available, Megalopoli 4, was in 30th place as it operated minimally in 2024 and only in June (9.14 GWh).

As for the fossil gas plants, Agios Nikolaos II climbed to the 2nd place in the overall ranking (1.41 million tons); in contrast, in 2023 – the first year of the then-new gas plant’s completed operation – it was 13th with 0.46 million tons. Megalopoli V was 4th (1.11 million tons) and Lavrion IV-V was 5th (1.02 million tons) – both of these plants dropped a place compared to 2023. Finally, in December 2024, the first 180 MWh of electricity were produced by the new fossil gas-fired power plant, the Thermoelektriki power plant in Kozani.

In total, emissions from fossil gas plants reached 65.1% of the total emissions from thermal plants in Greece’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 0.64, 0.5 and 0.26 million tons respectively in 2024. Cumulatively, the top three polluting oil stations represent almost 50% of the total emissions on the non-interconnected islands. They are 9th, 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 75% reduction compared to 2019. This commitment can be used to determine annual carbon budgets for the period 2024-2026. In particular, assuming that a linera 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, the available budget for 2024 is estimated at 9.61 million tons.

In 2024, PPC’s thermal plants are estimated to have emitted 10.21 million tons CO2, exceeding the aforementioned budget by 0.6 million tons.

However, it should be noted reduced its emissions by 10,9% compared to 2023, when the company had emitted (11.47 million tons). This progress is due to a decrease in emissions from lignite plants (-1.79 million tons in 2024 compared to 2023), as gas plants recorded an increase (+0.54 million tons respectively), while emissions from oil plants remained almost the same (-0.001 million tons). The significant decrease in PPC emissions contrasts with the increase in the country’s total emissions, however this performance by PCC was not enough to reach the 2024 target2.

You can see the evolution of the electricity sector emissions since 2013, as well as read the analyses from previous months here.

  1. 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.
  2. 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 year.