Greece’s environment ministry this week announced that damages to be incurred by the state-run Public Power Corp. (PPC), the country’s dominant electricity utility, in 2020 from the use of lignite as a fuel in its power generation units will reach up to 400 million euros.
A study in September 2019 by The Green Tank focusing on the 14 lignite-fired units operated by ATHEX-listed PPC reached 683 million euros between January 2016 up until June 2019, with the estimate to double over the next three-and-a-half years if the situation remained unchanged.
Relevant Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said the months-long Mitsotakis government is now attempting to coordinate its energy sector policy with the European “Green Deal”, which beyond ending dependence on lignite, includes a forecast of renewable energy sources to comprise 35 percent of the country’s energy production by 2030, with one in three vehicles being electric and some 600,000 buildings having been upgraded for energy efficiency.
