PPC is creating a 230-megawatt solar powered energy park, the largest in Greece, in line with other projects developed with Germany's RWE, forming the country's power sources in its post-lignite future.
In vast areas stretching over nearly 5,000 lignite acres in Western Macedonia, the first landmark-projects of the new era to come will be the mega photovoltaic parks.
In the lunar landscapes of Kozani, Ptolemaida, Amyntaio and Florina, giant photovoltaic parks planned by PPC, whose example will be followed by others, will be the first bridge-projects that will prove whether the area has a future.
The first of them has a capacity of 230 megawatts, that has been split up into three parts, two small ones (15 megawatts each) and one large (200 megawatts).
Based on the logic that the project must quickly signal the transition to the new era, PPC Renewables completed the first two twin tenders in record time, signing the contract a few days ago with METKA for the first 15 MW, while it will also do the same in coming weeks for the second lot with contractor TERNA Energy.
The big bet concerns the third part, the 200 megawatts, with its construction being eyed by five bidders, Greeks and foreigners, at a budget of 110 million euros.
The announcement of the contractor has still some way to go with the interested parties who have expressed an interest and submitted bids being the following:
- Greece's Resinvest (Karagoule's interests)
- Greek-owned Sunel UK, which until recently operated in Britain, together with the Chinese Shanghai Electric HongKong,
- AVAX,
- ARCHIRODO
- Mytilineos, METKA-EGN.
When constructed and operated, the PPC project in Kozani, with a total budget of 130 million euros (110 million euros for 200 MW and 10 million euros and 11.5 million euros for each of the two small ones) will be the largest photovoltaic in Greece and one of the largest in Europe. On Greek soil, only the next mega photovoltaic plant that PPC is going to build in Megalopolis will be able to compete, with the tender being announced in July, as well as the two existing ones.
The project acquired earlier this year by Motor Oil Hellas, with a capacity of 47 MW from METKA EGN and the number one park in Greece at the moment belonging to ELPE in Kozani, with a capacity of 204 MW, is the biggest deal recorded in the Greek RES market so far, amounting to 130 million euros.
Of course, these projects are not enough to convince the local population of the plan for the post-lignite era. The plan has not yet been developed, there are many murky areas, while the total 5,000 acres of lignite fields the company has been exploiting since the 1960s is estimated to be fully restored by 2030 - 2035 at the earliest.
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