The Public Power Corporation (PPC), Greece’s electricity utility, will replace up to nine old stations with four new units at a cost of 1.2 billion euros ($1.46 billion), a senior company official said last week. “The company will replace between seven and nine old power stations with four new plants,” Abraham Mizan, general manager of PPC’s generation division, told Reuters. Mizan said the new units, with a total capacity of 1,600 megawatts, will lead to significant fuel savings for PPC, with fuel consumption up to 45 percent lower than existing units. PPC, 51 percent state-owned, is struggling to cut costs amid soaring oil prices, low regulated tariffs and intensifying competition from new entrants. PPC’s net profit last year fell by a bigger-than-expected 54 percent to 135.7 million euros, hit by high fuel costs, energy imports and low electricity rates. “The cost of our imported fuels will go up by 16 percent this year,” he said.
(Reuters)