Germany’s RWE and Greek state-owned utility PPC have signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for three of five solar energy projects to be built on a former Greek coal mining site. They sell electricity to the local power company Heron.
Meton Energy SA, a joint venture owned 51 percent by RWE and 49 percent by PPC, announced in a press release that it has signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for three of the five solar plants currently under construction. According to the statement, the Greek electricity company Heron is the buyer. The press release did not state the capacity of the three solar power plants, but according to it, the power purchase agreements vary between 10-12 years and cover approximately 192 GWh of solar energy per year.
The power purchase agreements mark a new beginning for the Greek energy market, as they are to be developed without subsidies. This segment of the Greek solar market is still in its infancy. In the early years of renewable energy development, renewable power plants were compensated based on feed-in tariffs. Later, Greece switched to renewable energy compensation through high-quality tariffs, which are set competitively through auctions. But the RWE-PPC joint venture is Greece’s boldest and most mature step towards unsubsidized energy yet.
