January 14 (SeeNews) - A new 400 kV power interconnection between Greece and Bulgaria is in its final stretch, with the tender in Greece to be concluded by the end of January, regional media reported.
The undertaking, a European project of common interest (PCI), is expected to upgrade the capacity in the Bulgaria-Greece direction to 1,350 MW and in the Greece-Bulgaria direction to 800 MW, Balkan Green Energy News reported earlier this week, citing the latest ten-year development plan of Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO).
Construction on the Bulgarian side started in 2020, while in Greece it is expected to begin soon in order to be completed by the end of 2022, the media outlet said.
A working group between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey is examining different scenarios for increasing the transmission capacity between their electricity systems. Two new projects, a 400 kV Greece-Turkey line and a new 400 kV Bulgaria-Turkey line have been proposed.
IPTO's development plan calls for total investments of 4 billion euro ($4.58 billion) in the 2023-2032 period, with more than half of the capital expenditure earmarked for the period through 2026.
New interconnections in the Balkans are considered by the European Union and countries in the region as a vital step in order to ensure the security of supply in the future. Furthermore, both IPTO and other operators in the Balkans are focusing on the role of energy storage as a way to stabilize supply-demand and lead to an efficient power system in the years after 2030 within an environment of high renewables penetration.
IPTO is the owner and operator of the Hellenic Electricity Transmission System (HETS).
($ = 0.8728 euro)