PPC venture with RWE to include anthracite plant
Public Power Corporation (PPC), Greece’s biggest electricity producer, said a possible venture with German utility RWE AG would include a new anthracite-fueled power plant and collaboration in natural gas and renewable energy. «PPC doesn’t need, nor seek, a strategic investor but wants to expand through specific cooperation with other companies to mutual interest,» PPC said in a statement posted on its website yesterday. On December 20 workers had stormed a board meeting to force the company to postpone a decision on the plan. According to the proposal, details of which PPC unveiled yesterday, the two companies would build a 1,600-megawatt electricity plant to meet demand on Greece’s eastern islands; RWE would sell to PPC two used, gas-driven turbines to help the company cover peak summer consumption over the next three years; and the partners would cooperate in gas and renewable-energy projects. State-controlled PPC said the plan should be accepted because it would reduce the company’s reliance on lignite – reserves of which will be depleted in Greece by 2042 – and on oil, whose rising price boosts generation costs. PPC workers say the plan may cost jobs at lignite mines and lead to private investors taking control. The Greek government has a 51 percent stake in PPC. PPC is also considering cooperation proposals from other companies, it said in the statement. (Bloomberg)
