German energy company RWE and Greek clean power developer PPC Renewables will build 567MWp of solar PV capacity in northern Greece.
Through their joint venture (JV) company Meton Energy, the two firms will invest €418 million (US$461 million) into two solar PV projects in the region of Central Macedonia, which are expected to begin construction in “Spring 2025”. Operations at the sites are expected to begin in 2027.
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The EU’s NextGenerationEU scheme, via its Recovery and Resilience Facility, provided €175 million (US$193 million) for the projects. The remainder is being raised through €169 million in commercial debt financing, RWE said.
Meton Energy has signed a ten-year bilateral power purchase agreement (PPA) with its parent companies for power produced at the sites.
Katja Wünschel, CEO of RWE Renewables Europe & Australia, said the latest investment decision demonstrated the company’s “strong commitment to the Greek market with now roughly 1.5GW of solar capacity in deployment.”
RWE and PC Renewables have already collaborated on a 940MWp solar PV portfolio in Western Macedonia, 315MWp of which is constructed, with a further 625MWp expected online by the end of 2025. The portfolio is entirely located within the boundaries of the former Amynteo lignite mine.
Costas Papamantellos, CEO of RWE Renewables Hellas and CEO of Meton Energy, said: “We are delivering our solar projects at an impressive pace. The first cluster of the Amynteo portfolio is already energised, construction works for Amynteo Clusters II and III are at an advanced stage, and we are looking forward to connecting all projects to the grid this year.”
A number of major solar developments have taken off in Greece recently. Last year construction began on a 560MW PV project from UK-based developer Lightsource bp and in January German developer ib vogt sold a 780MWp Greek solar and energy storage portfolio to Greece’s Faria Renewables.
More broadly, the Emirati state-owned renewables developer Masdar finalised its majority acquisition of Greek renewable power firm Terna Energy last November. The deal valued the company at €3.2 billion.
Last July, PV Tech featured a blog from the Hellenic Association of PV Companies (HELAPCO) – Greece’s solar PV trade association – which said that energy storage was the key technology to unlock Greece’s renewable energy potential and overcome the challenges to its grid infrastructure.
