Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Greece’s largest clean energy production and storage project called “Hydro-pumped storage in Greece – Amfilochia”, which is owned by Gek Terna and located in the northern Greece.
The project promises to produce 680MW of energy and pump and store another 730MW. It includes two independent reservoirs (Agios Georgios and Pyros) with a capacity of 9 million cubic meters. The lower reservoir uses the existing Kastraki lake. The overall investment is €650 million and is estimated to add 1,000 new jobs by the time it is fully constructed in 2026.
Commenting on the project, Mitsotakis said, “It is a project financed by the Recovery Fund with €250 million and when it is successfully completed, within the next two to three years, it will have a very important added value for the overall stability of the electrical system, as we cannot expect maximum penetration of renewable energy without storage methods. And pumped storage is the storage method that has the greatest added value, as this construction site will employ almost 1,000 workers in its full development, so we are also talking about many more jobs for the wider region of Etoloakarnania. So we’re looking forward to the quick completion of this very innovative as I said for the European data project and hopefully we’ll be back here to launch it.”
The project is considered a “Project of Common Interest,” supporting North- South electricity interconnections in Central Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and is classified as a strategic investment by the Greek Authorities (under the Law 3894/2010).
The purpose of the Project is energy storing to assist renewable sources integration. The excess wind, photovoltaic or thermal energy will be hydraulically stored, through water pumping from the lower to the upper reservoirs, during the low load consumption or in renewable overproduction periods. Subsequently, energy will be recovered via turbine mode, during the peak load hours.
