Greece’s power utility, Public Power Corporation (PPC) will spend 3.4 billion euros to expand its footprint in renewables and modernise the country’s distribution grid.
The coal-reliant utility, which is 51 per cent 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. About 42 per cent of the 3.4 billion euro spending will be siphoned into upgrading power distribution via its 242 km 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 GW by 2023 from just 0.17 GW now. Coal-fired plants with a 3.4 GW capacity will be decommissioned and repurposed to include co-generation, energy storage, biomass and hydrogen.