Greek utility PPC to invest $4.1 billion in renewable energy, grid modernization through 2023.

Greece’s biggest power utility Public Power Corp. (PPC) will spend 3.4 billion euros ($4.11 billion) to expand its footprint in renewables and modernise the country’s distribution grid, it said on Wednesday.

The coal-reliant utility, which is 51% owned by the state, has pledged to shut down all but one of its coal-fired plants by 2023 to help Greece reduce carbon emissions in line with climate targets set by the European Union.

In a presentation to investors released on Wednesday, PPC said that about 42% of the 3.4 billion euro spending will be siphoned into upgrading power distribution via its 242-kilometre-long grid, which it fully owns now but plans to partially privatise next year.

PPC will also use a big chunk of that sum to build solar and wind plants and boost its capacity from green energy to 1.5 gigawatt by 2023 from just 0.17 gigawatt now, it said.

PPC said that coal-fired plants with a 3.4 gigawatt capacity will be decommissioned and repurposed to include co-generation, energy storage, biomass and hydrogen.

3 December 2020

IEEFA