Greece's dominant electric utility, Public Power Corporation SA (PPC.AT), is revising its strategy for joint activities with Germany's RWE AG (RWE.XE) after months of union opposition to an earlier deal.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday, PPC Chief Executive Takis Athanasopoulos said the Greek state-controlled utility would discuss a new memorandum of understanding with RWE after the time limit on a previous, controversial deal had lapsed.
"The next board of directors meeting will discuss a new memorandum of understanding with RWE," said Athanasopoulos. "The time period for the previous joint venture activities lapsed after so many months' delay."
Athanasopoulos didn't disclose the date of the next board meeting, but the Greek press have reported that it will likely be held April 22.
The new MOU would look at building a joint venture, coal-fired power plant of between 500 and 800 megawatts in Albania; a joint venture deal in the area of natural gas supply; and a joint venture deal to develop wind farm projects in Greece.
The proposed Albanian power plant would be 51% controlled by RWE, 39% by PPC, and 10% by Sencap, a PPC joint venture company.
Significantly, the new MOU doesn't foresee the creation of any joint venture thermoelectric power plants within Greece's borders - the focus of vigorous, and sometimes violent, union protests against the previous MOU.
Under the previous MOU, PPC and RWE had eyed a possible joint venture to build two coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 1,600 megawatts in Greece.
Under that deal, RWE would have controlled 51% of the new plants - something which Greece's power sector workers' union Genop opposed, fearing that it was a step towards the further privatization of PPC, now 51%-controlled by the Greek state.
Since late last year, Genop members have staged a series of protests each time PPC's board has met to discuss the RWE deal, forcing their way into board meetings to block discussion of the MOU.