Fifth PPC unit at Ptolemaida may wind up unsustainable
Next Tuesday’s conference call between Energy Ministry officials and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition (DGComp) will determine the fate of the fifth plant of Public Power Corporation at Ptolemaida, in Western Macedonia.
PPC’s most cutting-edge lignite-powered plant, which is in the construction stage and is expected to be completed in 2022 – and in which the power giant will invest a total of 1.4 billion euros – risks becoming a problematic investment.
The reason for that is that, due to government negligence, Greece has not yet legislated the mechanism through which the electricity production units will be paid for the power they supply to the grid and which should adhere to the strict framework the new European regulation for the internal operation of the electricity market provides for.
This new regulation comes into force on June 20 and dictates that production units that start operating after the regulation takes effect (and which emit over 550 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt/hour) cannot receive payments from any electricity mechanism. This will immediately render the new Ptolemaida unit unsustainable.
