Power utility PPC plans to launch, around a year from now, a tender for the construction of a 148-MW pumped-storage station at the location of the company’s withdrawn lignite mine in Kardia, northern Greece.

The project, budgeted at between 170 and 180 million euros, is expected to be completed three years after a contract for its construction has been signed.

The prospective Kardia pumped-storage station is one of five such units planned by PPC, their total capacity expected to reach 1,000 MW.

Pumped-storage stations can offer long-term electricity storage, making them necessary in power systems with high penetration of renewables, as is expected to be the case in the Greek energy system by 2030, when, according to a draft of the updated National Energy and Climate Plan, renewables will hold a 79 percent share of the power generation mix.

PPC is already staging a tender offering a contract to a consultant specialized in such projects for a feasibility study, basic design and technical specifications of the Kardia pumped-storage unit.

In addition, PPC is carrying out power system stability studies, which are necessary for the project’s design. The findings of the studies will be passed on to the consultant selected through the tender.

The Kardia pumped-storage project plan received an environmental permit last May, as part of a wider investment plan also involving PPC’s former steam power plant and the adjacent lignite mine, also withdrawn.

This plan also includes development of a CHP unit that will support the operation of a regional heating system for Kozani, Ptolemaida and Amyntaio, as well as the conversion of the Kardia III and Kardia IV power stations into modern capacitors. Tenders for the capacitors are already underway.