By A. Tsimplakis
The Greek side is now “working against the clock” in order to conclude necessary licenses and approvals (by at least three ministries) for the future construction of a nationwide LNG grid in the east Mediterranean country.
A deadline for submitting the entire Greek proposal to the EU Commission for its inclusion as a subsidized energy project is the end of February 2018.
The prospective network would, in the first phase, provide LNG access to ports around the country, with the aim of supplying ocean-going vessels with LNG as an alternative fuel.
A similar proposal in 2017 never materialized, whereas Italian interests, during the same period, won approval for a project to construct a LNG bunkering vessel.
One portion of the current Greek proposal includes two ropax vessels (1+1), with a construction cost of between 80 and 90 million euros each. The latter segment is based on studies undertaken via the Poseidon Med I and II programs. A Community subsidy rate reaches 20 percent, and is related to the “green technology” that the two prospective vessels will use.
A third vessel, a bunker, is also included in the proposal, valued at 40 million euros and also with a 20-percent subsidy rate.
The Greece-based entity that will officially submit the proposal is DE.PA, Greece’s state-run natural gas supply utility.
On land, the proposal includes two segments, one being the development of a chain of CNG stations on national highways, as well as the subsidization of a process to refit buses and coaches so they can use CNG as a fuel.
