The Public Power Corporation S.A. ( el, Δημόσια Επιχείρηση Ηλεκτρισμού A.E., translit=Dimosia Epicheirisi Ilektrismou A.E., abbreviated PPC, or DEI InfoCuria
Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic Republic
Case C-394/02, published 2 June 2005, accessed 5 October 2022) is the largest

electric power company An electric utility is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major pr ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

History

PPC was founded by the Greek government in 1950. Its main purpose was to plan and apply a national

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

policy which, through the exploitation of the domestic products and resources, would distribute cheap electric power to all Greek citizens. PPC started the integration of all the small local grids to the national interconnected grid. Furthermore, the corporation resolved the purchase of all the small private and local electric power production units. Today, PPC Group consists of 3 subsidiary companies PPC S.A., the

Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator The Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator ( el, Διαχειριστής Ελληνικού Δικτύου Διανομής Ηλεκτρικής Ενέργειας, or ΔΕΔΔΗΕ was formed by the separation of the Distribution Dep ...

(HEDNO or DEDDIE) S.A. and PPC RENEWABLES S.A. Even if HEDNO S.A. (the Greek DSO) is owned by PPC, HEDNO S.A. operates independently according to L.4001/2011 and in compliance with 2009/72/EC EU Directive relative to the electricity market organization.

Shareholders

On 16 November 2021, the company completed a share capital increase that the Greek government as a shareholder chose not participate in. As a result, the Greek government's shareholding decreased from 51.12% to 34.12%, which is currently held by the country sovereign wealth fund, the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP). This change in shareholding means PPC has been privatised and is no longer controlled by the Greek government. On 3 March 2022, CVC Capital Partners acquired 10% of the company's shareholding. The Company’s shares are traded in the «Large Cap» category of the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX), while in the London Stock Exchange they are traded in the form of

global depository receipt A global depository receipt (GDR and sometimes spelled ''depositary'') is a general name for a depositary receipt where a certificate issued by a depository bank, which purchases shares of foreign companies, creates a security on a local excha ...

s (GDRs). The Company’s shareholding structure as of 1 September 2022 was as follows:

Privatisation

In 2001, PPC carried out a share flotation on the Athens Stock Exchange and consequently was no longer wholly owned by the government, although it was still controlled by it with a 51.1% stake until 2021. In June 2011, the Greek government announced it would sell 17% of its share of PPC to meet conditions of EU/ ECB/ IMF loan package. The workers of PPC responded by limited power cuts to selected towns across Greece. However, the Tsipras Government decided to suspend the privatisation of PPC as one of its first anti-austerity measures. The company was eventually privatised in November 2021, when the Greek government decreased its shareholding to 34.12% and transferred it to the Greek sovereign wealth fund, the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP).

Renewable energy

In 1982, PPC developed the first

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

in the world, combined with a

photo-voltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially u ...

station to supply electricity to the isolated power system of the island of Kythnos. :el:Αιολικό πάρκο Κύθνου The PPC has committed to buying renewable-source energy from independent producers at five times its selling rate until 2034. Legislation before

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in 2013-14 included making the PPC responsible for collection of the real estate tax, part of the EU/IMF/ECB requirements for the financial support of the economy.

Power plants

The 34 major

thermal A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

and hydroelectric

power plants A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

and the 3

wind farms Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few h ...

of the interconnected

power grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

of the mainland, as well as the 60 autonomous

located on

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

and other Greek islands (33

, 2 hydroelectric, 18

wind energy Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically, w ...

and 5 photovoltaic parks) form PPC's industrial assets and constitute the energy basis of all financial activities of the country. The total installed capacity of the 97 PPC's

is currently 12,760 MW with a net generation of 53.9 TWh in 2007.

Carbon intensity

Mining areas

PPC has mining areas adjacent to many of its power plants. Some of these power plants produce electricity and power from lignite, while other plants use

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

. The largest mining areas are located around

Ptolemaida Ptolemaida ( el, Πτολεμαΐδα, Ptolemaïda, Katharevousa: Πτολεμαΐς, ''Ptolemaïs'') is a town and a former municipality in Kozani regional unit, Western Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of th ...

, around Amyntaio in the

Florina Florina ( el, Φλώρινα, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the F ...

prefecture and around

Megalopolis A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enoug ...

Legal issues

In 2005, PPC was found to have awarded a contract for the construction of a conveyor-belt system for waste produced at its generating plant in

without following correct advertising procedures under EU public procurement law. The need for the system had arisen following an environmental impact assessment, after which the Greek

Ministry of the Environment, Urban Planning and Public Works The Ministry of the Environment, Urban Planning and Public Works of Greece ( el, Υπουργείο Περιβάλλοντος, Χωροταξίας και Δημοσίων Έργων, commonly abbreviated as ΥΠΕΧΩΔΕ). Following the electoral ...

had imposed a deadline of December 2000 for the installation of the system. PPC had therefore decided to negotiate a deal for the construction instead of advertising the opportunity; the court held that these circumstances did not quality as "extreme urgency" for the purposes of the procurement regulations.

References

External links

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Financial Data 2014
(PDF; 3,1 mb) {{Authority control Electric power companies of Greece Public utilities of Greece Companies based in Athens Energy companies established in 1950 Companies listed on the Athens Exchange Greek companies established in 1950