S. Flora, Gastrade SA, Greece, details the plans for a new LNG terminal in the north of Greece, and discusses the ways in which it will benefit the country as well as Southeastern Europe.
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reece and Southeastern Europe face the challenge of transformation from a carbon dependent to a carbon free energy system. It is a fact that the global energy landscape will transform towards cleaner sources, and the EU has set itself a binding target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This transformation requires time, since the heavy penetration of renewables also relies on significant investments in battery storage and grid management capabilities. To this end, the EU has also set an intermediate target to cut emissions by at least 55% by 2030. This means that natural gas will be the transitional fuel for the next period. Low carbon gases such as biogas and hydrogen will also be a growing part of the Green Agenda.
The growing gas market
The National Energy and Climate Plan for Greece that sets the energy strategy for the next decade dictates that all lignite units will be decommissioned by 2023. This means that 3.4 GW of lignite capacity will be decommissioned, which in turn will
lead to an increase in power generation from natural gas plants. In addition, natural gas will also further expand to other uses. Gas penetration is increasing both geographically and in existing urban networks. New sectors are opening up to gas consumption, such as marine, transportation, and industrial use, showing the significance of natural gas as the transitional fuel. Similar patterns are seen in most of the markets of Southeastern Europe, such as in Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Romania. On one hand, there is the anticipated increase in natural gas demand, and on the other hand there is the need for natural gas infrastructure to accommodate this demand. Thus, looking at the region of Southeastern Europe there is the need for a new LNG terminal not only to accommodate the increased demand from natural gas as the transitional fuel but also due to geopolitical reasons. In addition, 2021 has shown that there is still a strong dependence on Russian gas. Furthermore, a new dependency has been created as all the new pipeline routes, such as TAP and TurkStream, now cross 53
