The energy ministry’s leadership and lender representatives are scheduled to meet for a post-bailout review of Greece’s energy sector commitments this Thursday morning, one day after the expected results of the main power utility PPC’s sale of its Megalopoli and Meliti lignite-fired power stations, part of a bailout-required lignite disinvestment package.

Prospective buyers will need to to submit their binding bids by tomorrow midday. Without a doubt, the outcome of the PPC sale will figure prominently in Thursday’s talks.

Should investors decide not to emerge for PPC’s lignite units sale with binding bids tomorrow, then the disinvestment effort and PPC, as a corporation, overall, will enter uncharted territory, sources have told energypress.

New measures aimed at opening up Greece’s electricity production market will enter the picture if PPC’s current sale effort fails. The sale of hydropower facilities to new owners, for example, is one of the possibilities.

Investors have remained tentative in the lead-up to the sale as a result of unfavorable conditions surrounding the prospects of lignite assets, including the sharp rise in CO2 emission right costs.

The Czech Republic’s Seven Energy, joined by Gek Terna for this sale, is depicting a negative picture. The Mytilineos group, another candidate, views such an investment as particularly challenging. China’s CHN and the Copelouzos group’s Damco, another pair eyeing the sale, have pointed out that many initiatives aimed at creating a favorable setting for the sale remain unfinished.