Power utility PPC’s plans for a restructured green future, as part of the country’s full decarbonization objective, set for 2028 by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, have generated considerable business interest in China, by far the world’s biggest manufacturer of renewable energy equipment and developer of energy storage and electric vehicle technology.

Small, mid and large-scale Chinese investors have displayed strong interest, asking many questions, at a series of meetings with PPC chief executive Giorgos Stassis, in China for Shanghai’s International Import Expo 2019, running until November 10.

Besides seeking to generate sales of equipment, Chinese company officials, more crucially, are also looking to establish joint RES investments in all domains, from wind and solar energy to biomass and combined technologies. Interest for the development of new thermal units, as well as financial support by Chinese banks, has also emerged.

A conversion plan for PPC’s Ptolemaida V unit, still under construction and initially planned to operate as a coal generator but now being reconsidered for a switch to natural gas, biomass, solar or a combination of these, stands as a major attraction for investors and banks. Stassis, the PPC chief, has received various proposals for Ptolemaida V at the Shanghai event.

Work groups will be tasked with appraising these proposals once Stassis returns to Greece. His meetings yesterday included talks with China Development Bank, Shanghai Electric and China Three Gorges, holding a stake in Portugal’s EDP Renovaveis.

Besides green energy projects, not necessarily just with PPC, Chinese investors are also eager to penetrate Greece’s nascent electric vehicle market. Chinese companies are the world’s leaders in this domain. Highlighting this dominance, all 16,000 buses operating in the city Shenzhen are electric.