Greece awards 300 MW in storage tender

The Greek energy regulator has awarded 300 MW of new battery storage capacity in the nation's second energy storage tender, split among 11 projects. The tender is part of the country’s 1 GW energy storage auction program. The projects range in size from 8,875 MW/17,75 MWh to 49,9 MW/100 MWh).

The regulator said the auction was highly competitive, leading to an average tender price of €47,680 ($51,506)/MW per year.

Greece’s energy storage auction program awards contracts-for-difference (CfD) over periods of 10 years. The submitted bids were capped at €115,000/MW per year, with the lowest successful bid set at €44,100/MW per year. The highest awarded CfD tariff was €49,917/MW per year.  

This means that the awarded projects need to participate in the energy markets. Every year, the government will assess the market earnings of the projects. If the earnings of an installation are lower than the CfD price set in the tender, investors will receive top-up payments to bridge the difference. Conversely, if a project's earnings exceed the CfD price, the surplus must be returned to the state.

Apart from the CfD support, the awarded projects will also be offered a one-time capex subsidy payment. The capex payment in the second tender was set at €100,000/MW.  

Rhere were also three additional projects, totaling 122 MW of capacity, that were eliminated in the tender, despite offering CfD bids that were lower than the auction’s upper successful bid. The reason for this is that the regulator initially sought to award only 288,21 MW of capacity in the second tender and these projects by far exceeded the sought capacity.

Most of the successful bids came from Greek companies, including Terna, which won a 40 MW project plus a separate 12 MW installation under its Heron subsidiary. Motor Oil also won CfDs for three projects totaling 72 MW, CNI secured two 25 MW projects, Bat Solar won a 49,9 MW project. In addition, Energiaki Tehniki won a 8,875 MW project, Italy’s Enel secured a CfD for a 49 MW array, and the Czech firm Solek snagged a 18 MW battery project.  

The 11 awarded projects must be operational by the end of 2025. Investors will be expected to submit progress reports every three months to ensure timely construction.

Greece’s first energy storage tender took place last year. It awarded 12 energy storage projects, or 411,79 ΜW of capacity, with an average price of €49,748/MW per year.  

To conclude its energy storage auction program, Greece needs to run a third storage tender to account for the remainder of the program’s 1 GW of capacity.