The electrical connection of Crete to the mainland transmission network is expected to secure savings of approximately €5 billion by 2035, thanks to the reduction in Public Service Obligations (PSO) charges. This amount highlights the significant economic benefit the project offers to the national economy.
ADMIE: The related briefing note on Crete’s electrical interconnection
“As emerges from historical data from the Special PSO Account Administrator from the operational period of the Crete-Peloponnese interconnection and estimates based on reasonable assumptions for the coming decade, the benefit for all consumers from PSO savings will amount to €400-600 million annually.
This benefit results from taking into account the estimated total cost of Crete’s electricity supply, ranging from €480 to €660 million annually, which increases each year mainly due to rising demand, in case the island had remained non-interconnected. It should be noted that in the above calculations, the estimated cost of maintaining the necessary backup power generation capacity for emergencies (“cold reserve“), estimated between €40-60 million annually until 2035, has been deducted.
Therefore, it emerges that over the course of a decade, PSO charge savings will be on average 4.5 times greater than System Usage Charges.
Beyond the economic benefit, the implementation of this vital energy infrastructure by ADMIE and its subsidiary Ariadne Interconnection has a positive impact on Crete’s local community due to the cessation of operations of the oil-fired and polluting units on which the island’s electricity supply had relied until now. This means the project’s environmental footprint is particularly significant as it reduces CO2 emissions by 500,000 tons annually and eliminates air pollutants related to local power generation.
It should be recalled that the savings resulting from PSO charges due to the Crete-Peloponnese and Northern Cyclades interconnections allowed for the relief of electricity bills for all consumers across the country, in the form of subsidies, during the energy crisis period.
In the coming months, the interconnections of the Western Cyclades (Santorini, Folegandros, Milos, Serifos) are also being completed. This will be followed by electrical interconnection projects that will definitively end the operation of old and polluting local units in the Dodecanese (Kos, Rhodes, Karpathos) and in the North Aegean (Lemnos, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Skyros), which will bring additional benefits of hundreds of millions of euros from PSO reductions“.
