Greece is facing a strange energy problem. The country has a huge electricity surplus due to the high efficiency of alternative energy sources. The Greek government’s solution: lower prices must now lead to more consumption.
The Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy plans to offer the cheaper night-time electricity rate during the day to rebalance electricity supply and demand. The problem is the high yield of solar energy, especially in the afternoon hours, the daily newspaper “Kathimerini” reported on Wednesday.
Some PV systems are taken off the grid
Due to the high efficiency and large number of photovoltaic systems in Greece, it is now increasingly common that these alternative energy sources need to be temporarily disconnected from the grid during the day to keep the power supply stable and avoid power outages.
It was said that the phenomenon could be clearly observed a week ago during the Greek Orthodox Easter. In the mostly sunny days before Easter Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Athenians left the capital to spend the festival on islands and in their villages of origin.
There was then “an alarm at the electricity companies”, as the news portal in.gr wrote. Those responsible were forced to remove alternative energy sources from the electricity grid, because the excess electricity production could not be fully consumed, exported to other countries or stored.
Day and night rates
Night rate times are expected to shift to daytime hours between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. According to media reports, the ministry is even considering setting up a subsidy program for smart home appliances, so that consumers can switch on smart washing machines and dishwashers via an app from work during the day and thus benefit from the cheaper rate.
Source: Krone
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