Greece has shattered its electricity export record, turning what was once a costly energy deficit into a €475 million tr...

Greece has shattered its electricity export record, turning what was once a costly energy deficit into a €475 million trade surplus in just the first eight months of 2026. From January through August, Greece exported 9.24 terawatt hours of electricity, a 70 percent jump from the same period last year. Imports dropped 27 percent to 3.14 TWh, pushing net exports to 6.1 TWh. That single-year surplus has already blown past the full-year 2025 figure of €261.8 million, according to data from grid operator IPTO and statistics agency ELSTAT. The turnaround is striking when you look at where Greece was just seven years ago. In 2019, the country imported nearly 10 TWh of electricity, covering about 20 percent of its own needs, and ran an energy trade deficit of almost €400 million. The balance only moved into surplus for the first time in 2024, with a modest €121.5 million gain. IPTO chief Manos Manousakis pointed directly at solar and wind as the engine behind the shift. He credited Greece's "national energy strategy to harness our abundant domestic renewable resources" and said the country is not stopping there. A new electricity corridor linking Greece and Cyprus, alongside a second interconnection cable to Italy, will together triple Greece's cross-border exchange capacity in the coming years. Greece currently operates nine gigawatts of solar capacity, which already gave it some of the lowest electricity prices in southeastern Europe during the summer energy crunch, when evening prices on regional exchanges were hitting 700 euros per megawatt hour. While neighbors scrambled, Greece was exporting. #Greece #Energy #Renewables