PPC to shed light on ambitious energy plan

Greece's Public Power Corporation (PPC) is set to unveil its new business plan on Monday, with an ambitious set of goals that include cutting its reliance on coal, a 5,000 person headcount reduction and a shift towards renewable power.

The state-controlled company will shed light on issues such as the amount of capital needed to complete these targets and where it will get the money from. Another key point for PPC is how it will complete the transition from coal-powered electricity plants to environmentally-friendly electricity production.

As reported previously by Business Daily, the basic outline of the plan includes:

• A fast switch from coal with lignite powered units going offline by 2023, which means that PPC's market share in electricity production will drop to 30 percent. The plan targets the shutting down of the power plants throughout Greece, in areas such as Amyntaio, Kardias, and Megalopoli, through to 2023.
• A continued drop in retail market share, which stands at 70 percent today. This is seen dropping to around 60 percent by the middle of next year.
• A 5,000 person headcount reduction via a voluntary redundancy program, with the majority of employees coming from lignite powered units. This means that PPC will reduce staff numbers from 16,500 today to 11,500 by 2024. Sources have indicated that the business plan may then foresee the hiring of 1,000 staff members that will mostly work for the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network (HEDNO).
• A sharp rise in operating profit, starting as of next year, with estimates, that EBITDA will rise to 650-700 million euros or 850-900 million euros, depending in the incurence of one off payments. EBITDA of 1 billion euros is targetted for 2024. These gains are the results of September's price hikes and the lack of further losses arising from lignite powered plants.
• PPC taking a leading position in renewable power boosting the size of its green power portfolios by 1,000 MW. Today PPC Renewable's portfolio has a capacity of 153 MW and a market share of 3 percent.