In an article for energypress, Ioanna Souka, Energy Policy Analyst at The Green Tank, emphasizes that supporting unnecessary gas plants comes at a cost to consumers.
The recent ENTSO-E power adequacy study (ERAA 2025) shows that a large portion of gas plants in Greece (3.6–4.1 GW out of a total 7.9 GW) is expected to face economic viability challenges. Any new investment in gas-fired units beyond those included in the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) entails high investment risk and ultimately increases costs for consumers.
Ioanna Souka highlights the importance of the upcoming national power adequacy study (NRAA), which will define the strategy for a secure and sustainable energy system. This study will also determine whether there is a need to establish a support mechanism for units that are necessary for energy adequacy while simultaneously facing economic losses.
It is particularly important that such a mechanism includes clean technologies, avoiding lock-in to costly and polluting fossil gas. In addition, the creation of a strategic reserve mechanism for existing units should be examined, under which they would be compensated solely for their availability—a solution that is cheaper than traditional market-based capacity mechanisms- Capacity Renumeration Mechanism (CRM).
Read the full article [in Greek] here.
