PPC plans to invest €3.4 bln by 2023

Greece's biggest power utility, Public Power Corporation, will spend 3.4 billion euros to expand its footprint in renewables and modernize the country's distribution grid, it said on Wednesday.

The coal-reliant utility, which is 51% owned by the state, has pledged to shut down all but one of its coal-fired plants by 2023 to help Greece reduce carbon emissions in line with climate targets set by the European Union.

In a presentation to investors released on Wednesday, PPC said that about 42% of the €3.4 billion spending will be siphoned into upgrading power distribution via its 242-kilometer-long grid, which it fully owns now but plans to partially privatize next year.

PPC will also use a big chunk of that sum to build solar and wind plants and boost its capacity from green energy to 1.5 gigawatt by 2023 from just 0.17 GW now, it said.

PPC...