Accounting in 2018 for 20.5% of the country\u2019s primary energy supply of 32.3 Mtce, lignite is Greece\u2019s most important indigenous energy resource, although the country does have modest oil and gas reserves.\u00a0 At 0.3 Mtce, hard coal imports accounted for 0.9% of energy supply.\u00a0 Oil accounted for 45.9% of total primary energy supply in 2018;\u00a0 Greece has a large refining industry which exports oil products.\u00a0 Fossil gas had an 18.2% share in primary energy supply in 2018.\u00a0 Electricity trade has grown steadily over the years, although the global economic crisis disrupted first imports and then exports.\u00a0 In 2018, electricity imports into Greece reached 8.7 TWh.<\/p>\n
Security of supply, low extraction costs and stable prices are important reasons why lignite still maintains a significant share in the Greek energy mix.\u00a0 However, in September 2019, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged to phase out lignite-fired power generation by 2028.<\/p>\n
Lignite<\/b><\/p>\n
Greece boasts lignite resources of 3.6 billion tonnes and 2.9 billion tonnes of economically workable reserves.\u00a0 The most important deposits are located in the north of the country at Ptolemais-Amynteon and Florina (1.6 billion tonnes) which contribute around 80% of production.\u00a0 Other deposits lie at Drama (900 million tonnes) and at Elassona (170 million tonnes), as well as in the south at Megalopolis (132 million tonnes).\u00a0 There is also a large peat deposit of about 4 billion cubic metres at Philippi in the northern part of Greece (Eastern Macedonia).\u00a0 Only 30% of the total lignite reserves have been extracted to date and remaining reserves are good for over forty years at current production rates.<\/p>\n
Lignite deposits in Greece lie at an average depth of 150 to 200 metres and typically comprise layers of lignite alternating with mineral layers.<\/p>\n
The quality of Greek lignite can be characterised as follows:\u00a0 the lowest calorific values are in the areas of Megalopolis and Drama (3 770 to 5 020 kJ\/kg) and Ptolemais-Amynteon (5 230 to 6 280 kJ\/kg).\u00a0 In Florina and Elassona the calorific value lies between 7 540 and 9 630 kJ\/kg.\u00a0 The ash content ranges from 15.1% (Ptolemais) to 19.0% (Elassona), and the water content from 41.0% (Elassona) to 57.9% (Megalopolis).\u00a0 At less than 1%, the sulphur content is generally low.<\/p>\n
Lignite is mined by the PUBLIC POWER CORPORATION (PPC) exclusively in opencast mines.\u00a0 This majority state-owned company is the largest lignite producer in Greece and operates mines in Western Macedonia at Main Field, South Field, Kardia Field and Amynteon Field.\u00a0 LIGNITIKI MEGALOPOLIS SA, a 100% owned subsidiary of PPC, also operates an opencast site in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece, in the Megalopolis Field.<\/p>\n
Coal loaders and conveyors, Port of Gdansk, Poland \u00a9 Nightman1965 | Dreamstime.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Bucket-wheel excavators, spreaders, tripper cars and conveyor belts are used to mine and transport lignite at these sites.\u00a0 PPC currently operates forty-three bucket-wheel excavators and twenty-two spreaders, together with more than 300 kilometres of belt conveyors.\u00a0 Hydraulic excavators and heavy trucks are used to remove the hard overburden formations found at some mines.<\/p>\n
In 2018, lignite production amounted to 36.5 million tonnes, mostly mined by PPC, with 27.2 million tonnes extracted by the company at the West Macedonia Lignite Centre (WMLC) and 7.4 million tonnes at the Megalopolis Lignite Centre (MLC).\u00a0 The few privately operated mines in the West Macedonia area produced a total of 1.9 million tonnes of lignite.<\/p>\n
In 2018, WMLC operations removed a total of 143.7 million cubic metres of overburden and interburden, corresponding to an overburden-interburden-to-lignite ratio of 5.3 cubic metres per tonne.\u00a0 At MLC, overburden plus interburden removal was 15.8 million cubic metres, corresponding to an overburden-interburden-to-lignite ratio of 2.1:1.\u00a0 Although the overburden-interburden-to-lignite ratio has significantly increased in recent years, it is expected to remain stable in the future.\u00a0 The two mining areas, WMLC and MLC, and the head office in Athens, employed during 2018 a total permanent workforce of about 4 082.<\/p>\n
Environmental protection is one of the major parameters defining PPC\u2019s overall strategy and its daily mining activities.\u00a0 In the lignite mining areas around Ptolemais-Amynteon and Megalopolis, PPC has carried out site restoration projects to create farmland, tree plantations, woodland, animal sanctuaries and crop-testing areas.<\/p>\n
At the end of 2018, power generation plants owned by PPC and its subsidiaries accounted for 60.6% of the country\u2019s total installed capacity of 21.5 GW and include lignite- and gas-fired plants, oil-fired plants on interconnected and autonomous islands, hydro plants, wind farms and solar PV plants.\u00a0 There are also seven private power plants with a total capacity of 2 626 MW.\u00a0 PPC and its subsidiaries own six lignite-fired power plants comprising fourteen units with a total installed capacity of 4 337 MW.\u00a0 In 2018, lignite-fired power plants accounted for 29.2% of net power generation of 51.0 TWh.\u00a0 The share of gas was 27.7%, oil 9.0%, hydro 11.3%, wind 12.3%, solar 7.7%, CHP 2.2% and biofuels\/waste 0.6%.\u00a0 The output from solar PV has been flat since 2013 when subsidies were reduced.\u00a0 In 2018, residential consumers paid \u20ac23\/MWh in renewable subsidies to support wind and solar.<\/p>\n
Lignite\u2019s future role in Greece will depend on changes taking place across the European energy sector, including the cost of carbon allowances under the EU emissions trading system.\u00a0 The significant increase in allowance prices during 2018 resulted in a reduction of the competiveness of lignite-fired power generation.\u00a0 PPC faces other important challenges relating to the regulatory framework governing energy market liberalisation, including the forced divestment of lignite-fired units at its Meliti and Megalopolis power stations.\u00a0 Strategic priorities now include the replacement of old and inefficient plants and investment in renewable energy sources.\u00a0 The new 660 MW Ptolemaida V lignite-fired power plant is one priority, with construction by TERNA SA and HITACHI POWER EUROPE of this \u20ac1.4 billion project well underway.<\/p>\n
In response to declining lignite production, the national government and the regional government of Western Macedonia are working with the World Bank, the European Commission, PPC and other stakeholders on regional development strategies to ensure a smooth transition to alternative means of wealth creation and energy supply.<\/p>\n
Greece<\/em><\/p>\n
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Coal resources and reserves<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n
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as at 1.1.2018<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
* including small islands with independent diesel generators \n** at PPC lignite-fired power plants<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Accounting in 2018 for 20.5% of the country\u2019s primary energy supply of 32.3 Mtce, lignite is Greece\u2019s most important indigenous energy resource, although the country does have modest oil and gas reserves.\u00a0 At 0.3 Mtce, hard coal imports accounted for 0.9% of energy supply.\u00a0 Oil accounted for 45.9% of total primary energy supply in 2018;\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":260,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5165","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5165\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"greece_round_icon_640\"](\"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/greece_round_icon_640.png?w=150\"){kind=icon}
Accounting in 2018 for 20.5% of the country\u2019s primary energy supply of 32.3 Mtce, lignite is Greece\u2019s most important indigenous energy resource, although the country does have modest oil and gas reserves.\u00a0 At 0.3 Mtce, hard coal imports accounted for 0.9% of energy supply.\u00a0 Oil accounted for 45.9% of total primary energy supply in 2018;\u00a0 Greece has a large refining industry which exports oil products.\u00a0 Fossil gas had an 18.2% share in primary energy supply in 2018.\u00a0 Electricity trade has grown steadily over the years, although the global economic crisis disrupted first imports and then exports.\u00a0 In 2018, electricity imports into Greece reached 8.7 TWh.<\/p>\n![\"el\"](\"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/el.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pipe.euracoal.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/slide15.jpg?w=214\")