Kozani PV park

Five bidders vying for PPC Renewables’ Kozani giant solar park

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Five bidding teams, including Greek and foreign partnerships, are vying for the construction contract of PPC Renewables’ 200-MW solar energy park in Kozani, northern Greece, one of Europe’s biggest, energypress sources have informed.

A tender has been completed but the announcement of the winning bidder is expected to take some time.

The 200-MW solar park represents the biggest section of a three-part complex with a total capacity of 230 MW planned by PPC Renewables for the Kozani area.

PPC Renewables is scheduled to sign a contract tomorrow with Metka, a member of the Mytilineos group, concerning the construction of the first of these three units, a 15-MW facility.

Terna Energy, the winning bidder of the overall project’s other smaller-scale unit, also 15 MW, is expected to sign its contract with PPC Renewables by the end of this month.

The total budget for the project’s three sections amounts to 130 million euros, of which 110 million euros concern the 200-MW facility.

On another front, PPC Renewables plans to launch another tender by July 28 for a 50-MW solar park in Megalopoli, Peloponnese.

For this facility, PPC Renewables will not seek fixed tariffs through RES auctions staged by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, but, instead, operate the unit based on target model rules, through two-party power purchase agreements (PPAs) with electricity buyers.

Metka, Terna winning bidders for PPC Renewables 15-MW Kozani units

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PPC Renewables has reached decisions to award two development contracts for respective 15-MW solar parks in the Kozani area, northern Greece, to Metka, a member of the Mytilineos group, and Terna, following two tenders, nearing finalization within the next few days, energypress sources have informed.

The imminent signing of these development contracts will signal the first steps in the development, by PPC Renewables, of a wider 230-MW solar energy complex, Greece’s biggest to date and one of Europe’s largest.

Construction work for the two 15-MW solar parks is expected to commence this coming summer, PPC Renewables anticipates.

The Kozani project will be spread across lignite mine locations operated by PPC Renewables’ parent company PPC, the power utility.

The 15-MW solar park to be developed by Metka will be equipped with its own sub-station and stationary mounts holding solar panels in a fixed position. This project’s total cost is estimated at just under 10 million euros.

The other 15-MW solar park project, to be constructed by Terna, will also be equipped with its own sub-station but, instead of fixed-position panels, will feature solar trackers, orienting panels toward the sun. This project will cost a total of approximately 11.5 million euros.

A tender for the Kozani project’s biggest segment, a 200-MW solar park, is still in progress. The deadline for bids has been slightly extended to June 11. Some 30 companies, Greek and foreign, have expressed major interest. Most are expected to submit bids.

PPC Renewables expects to have doubled its current installed RES capacity by the second half of 2021, up to 300 MW, according to the company’s chief executive Konstantinos Mavros.

A 600-MW installed capacity target has been set for the end of 2022. Looking further ahead, PPC Renewables is striving for a 1.5-GW total five years from now.

Kozani PV project to reenter fast track, minus fixed price

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A prospective 200-MW photovoltaic park planned development for Kozani, northern Greece, by PPC Renewables, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the main power utility PPC, appears set to be reinducted into the fast-track investments category, but its reinclusion will not come with all the benefits offered in the past.

Though this investment can, as a result, be expected to proceed at a more rapid pace than other projects, it will not be able to secure a fixed price for renewable energy output, as was the case with PV investments qualifying for fast-track procedures in the past.

The Kozani investment will need to secure its tariff levels at RES auctions as any projects previously removed from the fast-track category, as was the case with this PV park, can no longer be offered fixed tariffs and avoid RES auctions, energypress sources have explained.

The Kozani project, envisioned as the world’s biggest photovoltaic park by former Prime Minister George Papandreou during his tenure just under a decade ago, was removed from the fast-track category several years ago as a previous PPC administration believed the investment plan stood no chance of being actualized. Consequently, this fast-track removal will now deprive the prospective investment of the right to a fixed price for output. The loss of this right cannot be regained, sector experts explained.

The setback is not expected to prevent investors from wanting to join PPC Renewables to co-develop the major-scale PV project, licensed many years ago. Its budget has been estimated at 180 million euros.

According to the same energypress sources, PPC Renewables will seek an investment partner willing to take on the greater part of this cost. A Chinese partner has not been ruled out.

PPC Renewables has already signed a series of MoUs with China’s Sumec Group, a member of the China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach), for the development of RES projects in Greece and the wider region. This does not necessarily mean that PPC Renewables will also join forces with Sumec for the Kozani PV investment.

Sources said the search by PPC Renewables for an investment partner will commence as soon as the Kozani project regains its fast-track status, minus the fixed price rights.