PPC, RWE’s joint venture launching tender for 191 MW solar park in Greece

Meton Energeiaki is seeking a contractor for its 191 MW solar park project in the vicinity of a former coal plant in northern Greece. The joint venture of RWE Renewables from Germany and PPC Renewables has almost 1 GW in photovoltaics in the pipeline.

It took them a long time to make the partnership official, but the flagship electricity producers of Germany and Greece are now racing to get its planned photovoltaic projects online. Meton Energeiaki, a joint venture established by RWE Renewables and Athens-based PPC Renewables, has brought a 191 MW solar park project to the stage where it is about to pick a contractor at a tender, Powergame.gr reported.

The site is in Amyntaio in the region of Western Macedonia, where the Greek company’s parent Public Power Corp. (PPC or DEI) used to run a 600 MW lignite-fired power plant. Meton Energeiaki, which is keeping a low public profile when it comes to corporate identity, has several solar parks in the pipeline in the area with a combined nameplate capacity of nearly 1 GW and the goal is 2 GW.

Meton is working on two other solar park projects with 649 MW in total

The subsidiary of RWE from Germany holds 51% of the joint venture and PPC Renewables controls the rest. Greece’s government sold a stake in PPC last year and lost the majority share but it kept a so-called blocking majority.

PPC is currently building 387 MW in renewable energy capacity

According to the report, the solar park is intended to be completed in two years. There are two other projects that applied for permits and are undergoing technical preparations, and they should be commissioned within two and a half years, the article adds. One is a 299 MW photovoltaic plant and the other has a planned capacity of 450 MW, the news outlet learned.

PPC inked separate deals for 2 GW with Cantreva

PPC revealed in its annual report for 2021 that it recently signed agreements with three firms from the Cantreva Group, an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor, for a solar power portfolio of 2 GW in Greece, the article said. The utility is currently building 387 MW in renewable energy capacity, of which 345 MW is photovoltaics, 34 MW is in wind turbines and the remainder in small hydropower plants, the report adds.

Furthermore, PPC’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George Stassis has told analysts that the tenders for photovoltaic plants of 500 MW and 94 MW in Ptolemaida are in the final stage of preparation and that another one for wind power in northern Greece is in an advanced stage.

The company’s goal is to increase its installed renewable power plant capacity to almost 5 GW, mostly solar, the article reads. PPC has also secured generation licenses for 1.05 GW in total for energy storage and 44 MW for floating solar power capacity.