Coal-fired PPC plant tender draws very little interest

Wednesday’s results of the tender for the sale of the coal-fired electricity units of Public Power Corporation at Megalopoli and Meliti confirmed estimates saying that lignite is not at all attractive as a fuel form any longer.

Despite the facelift of the plants through a series of measures to improve operating profits, PPC only got one binding offer for the Meliti plants from Mytilineos, which Kathimerini understands is at least five times below the reasonable price determined by the independent consultant.

The two Megalopoli plants remained practically off demand, as the bid tabled by the consortium of Seven Energy and GEK Terna contains terms that are not included in the proposed contract of sale PPC has approved.

This was announced by the consortium itself with an official statement, in which it concluded that it “decided to submit a binding offer on the basis of an alternative version of the transaction contract that includes a more balanced distribution of risks between seller and buyer, and bridges the gap between the expectations of the seller and the buyer in relation to the development of the electricity market.”

Although PPC formally spoke about two bids, informally it said it has only asked Mytilineos for an offer improvement, which was already taken for granted given that the bid by the Greek-Czech consortium was below standard.

Mytilineos has been asked to table an improved bid by Friday morning, on the day the PPC board convenes to approve or not the offer. Approval will depend on whether the significant gap between the offer and the reasonable price can be bridged.