DESFA Finds Benefits of Underground Gas Storage (UGS) Facility with CBA in PLEXOS

DESFA - Owner and Operator of Greek Natural Gas System (NNGS)

DESFA was established in 2007 and is the owner and operator of the Greek Natural Gas System (NNGS) which consists of the National Natural Gas Transmission System and the LNG Terminal in the islet of Revithoussa.  DESFA operates, maintains and develops the Greek Natural Gas System in a safe, reliable, and economically efficient way and is certified as an Ownership Unbundled Operator under the 3rd EU Energy Package.  DESFA manages a high-quality network and state-of-the-art LNG facility which includes over 1,400 kilometers of high-pressure pipelines, 2 LNG storage and regasification terminal stations, 4 interconnection points, over 50 metering and regulating stations and more than 20 exit points to distribution systems.  The existing system, along with ongoing upgrades and expansions, will further expand Greece's role as an energy gateway to Southeast Europe. 

Cost Benefit Analyses (CBAs) are necessary for new investments

The National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) require that TSOs perform Cost Benefit Analyses (CBAs) for the development of new projects.  CBA is an analytical tool for evaluating and weighing the economic advantages and disadvantages of an investment decision versus its expected benefits.  In particular, CBAs calculate the costs and benefits of an investment to determine the welfare change attributable to the investment.   

ENTSO-G has provided a guiding methodology for the CBA of gas infrastructure focusing on both monetized and non-monetized benefits.  Also, ENTSO-G guidelines emphasize that both power and gas markets should be considered to calculate the full benefits of a project, due to their strong interdependence.  

PLEXOS models the interface of power and gas sectors

The fact that both the power and gas sectors need to be considered to realize the full spectrum of benefits of a project was the main reason why PLEXOS was selected for the performance of the CBA.  The PLEXOS platform is the global leading software in co-optimized energy modeling - providing a fundamental view of both the power and gas markets and the ability to model both systems and properties seamlessly.  In this study, PLEXOS was used to assess the overall performance of the system/social welfare with and without the project, by simulating the power and gas markets and their interdependence under normal and stress conditions.   

The CBA, performed in PLEXOS, revealed monetized and non-monetized benefits of project investment

DESFA used PLEXOS to perform a CBA to assess the development of an Underground Gas Storage (UGS) facility in Greece and the network upgrades of DESFA infrastructure needed to accommodate the investment, by the request of the Greek NRA (RAEWW). 

For the full results and findings of DESFA's study, download the full case study here.