Ag. Dimitrios shutdown today leaves Greece with last coal plant

Today is the last day of operation of Public Power Corporation’s Agios Dimitrios thermoelectric station, the largest lignite-fired plant in Greece. It is located near Kozani in the Western Macedonia province, in the country’s north.

Agios Dimitrios began production in 1984. It had five units, supplied from a nearby lignite mine. At its peak, the station had a capacity of almost 1,300 MW, making it the largest in the country.

With the enactment of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in 2005, coal power was hit by rising costs. The price of European Union Allowances (EUAs) grew gradually. They are currently traded at more than EUR 70 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent. This made plants such as Agios Dimitrios unable to compete with other technologies, like natural gas and renewable energy.

In 2025, the coal plant emitted 2.7 million tonnes of CO2, translating to EUR 200 million in costs at current EUA prices.

The coal regions of Western Macedonia in northern Greece and Megalopolis in the Peloponnese are undergoing economic and technological transformation.

Ptolemaida 5 is the last one standing

The decision to phase out coal was announced in 2019 by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In the meantime, state-controlled Public Power Corp. (PPC Group) took unit by unit offline. Now the only one that will remain is the newest lignite-fired facility, Ptolemaida 5, of 660 MW.

Stassis: We were asked to postpone the decommissioning for a few months

PPC Group earlier said it would close it by the end of this year, bringing a definitive end to Grece’s lignite era.

Recently, the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO or ADMIE) told the utility that Ptolemaida 5 would need to be kept in reserve until March 2027. PPC Group clarified it would only be under a scenario where the country’s natural gas imports would be impacted, therefore it is not likely.

In any case, CEO Georgios Stassis said IPTO did not ask for the unit to remain operational, just to postpone the decommissioning process. The plan is for Ptolemaida 5 to be changed into a natural gas plant.