Greece’s Grid Operator Unveils €9 Billion Decade Plan to Handle Renewables Surge

Greece’s independent power transmission operator IPTO has published a ten-year infrastructure programme worth €9 billion — €2 billion more than its previous plan — that covers the period from 2027 to 2036. The draft was recently opened for public consultation, with roughly 80 percent of the total budget earmarked for projects to be completed before 2030.

The core ambition is to accommodate more than 10 gigawatts of additional solar and wind capacity by the mid-2030s. Greece’s transmission grid already hosts around 10 GW of renewable generation, with a further 8.7 GW connected at distribution level. The solar sector has moved faster than national planning envisaged — Greece reached its 2030 solar target of 13.5 GW this summer, years ahead of schedule. IPTO notes that projects totalling 14 GW have already received grid-connection terms, which it considers sufficient to meet the required growth.

IPTO projects peak demand of 15.1 GW and total installed capacity of 64 GW by 2036, a more conservative figure than the 74 GW foreseen in the national energy and climate plan. Data centres, industrial consumers and broader economic electrification are expected to be the main demand drivers.

Among the flagship investments are the Great Sea Interconnector linking Greece with Cyprus, a new ultra-high-voltage hub in Alexandroupolis, and upgrades to five major substations. Cross-border lines to Turkey and Albania are scheduled for completion by 2031, while the Italy interconnector has been rescheduled to 2033.

To maintain stability at high renewable penetration, IPTO will install reactive-power management equipment at 150 kV substations. On storage, roughly 500 MW of battery capacity is currently operational and a further 1,403 MW — with 4,439 MWh of capacity — already holds connection approval. The government has separately raised Greece’s 2030 storage target to between 5 and 7 GW.

Source: Balkan Green Energy News