Power utility PPC’s lignite withdrawal plan, involving an exit of lignite-fired units with an overall capacity of roughly 3.4 GW by 2023, has already been included in the National Energy and Climate Plan, subject to EU approval, but will also need to be endorsed by the country’s power grid operator IPTO.

The operator will make its decision after having fully assessed the grid’s needs to ensure energy sufficiency.

According to energypress sources, state-controlled PPC, whose lignite withdrawal plan is fundamental to the government’s decarbonization objectives, has already submitted its withdrawal schedule proposal to IPTO for endorsement.

It begins with an exit of PPC’s Amynteo I and II units this coming April. Next on the schedule are Kardia III and IV in 2021, once these units have clocked up 32,000 hours of operating time. Then, in 2022, PPC plans to withdraw Megalopoli III and Agios Dimitrios I, II, III and IV. PPC intends to complete the withdrawal plan in 2023 with the withdrawals of Megalopoli IV, Meliti I and Agios Dimitrios V.

Ptolemaida V, a prospective power station now under construction, is planned to enter the system as a lignite-fired unit in 2022 and operate as such until 2028 before being converted to run on an alternate fuel source. Various options, including biomass, natural gas, waste-to-energy, as well as combinations of these, are being examined at present.

PPC chief executive Giorgos Stassis, who last weekend visited northern Greece’s west Macedonia region, a lignite-dependent local economy, explained that the gradual withdrawal plan would facilitate finding solutions for company staff, regional telethermal needs and grid stability. PPC lignite-fired units are incurring losses, primarily as a result of rising CO2 emission right costs.