(Reuters) – Greece’s Public Power Corporation plans to invest 5.75 billion euros ($6.4 billion) in the country’s Western Macedonia region to create a green energy and technology hub for Greece and southeastern Europe, the company said on Thursday.
The plan includes a 2.3-billion-euro, 300 megawatt data center at the Agios Dimitrios power plant.
The facility, which would rank among the largest in Europe, could be operational by 2027 and potentially scaled up to 1,000 MW, subject to the level of demand, PPC said.
The company also intends to invest 1.2 billion euros to develop solar parks on former mining sites in Western Macedonia, providing a combined capacity of 2,130 MW.
An additional 940 million euros will be allocated for energy storage projects totaling 860 MW.
PPC said Ptolemaida 5, a lignite-fired power plant, would initially transition into a 350 MW open-cycle natural gas unit by the end of 2027.
It could then be upgraded to a 500 MW combined-cycle gas turbine, once the investment decision for the data centre is made.
PPC also plans to invest in Greece’s first industrial-scale green hydrogen production unit in the town of Amyntaio through the Hellenic Hydrogen joint venture.
The new projects are expected to create up to 20,000 jobs during construction and up to an additional 2,000 when in operation, PPC noted.
($1 = 0.9011 euros)
(Reporting by Antonis Pothitos. Editing by Mark Potter)
