Public Power Corp. (PPC) CEO Giorgos Stassis on Wednesday announced that all remaining lignite-fired power plants in Greece are expected to cease operations by the end of 2026, reiterating the listed utility’s timetable for completing the country’s full exit from lignite-based electricity generation.
Responding to analysts’ questions during a conference call on the company’s first-quarter 2026 financial results, Stassis said the current plan foresees the permanent shutdown of the last lignite units still in operation within the year, effectively closing a decades-long chapter in Greece’s power production mix.
The comments reaffirm the strategic shift by PPC away from lignite mined in northwest Greece, a carbon-intensive domestic fuel that long underpinned the country’s electricity system but has increasingly been phased out in line with EU climate targets and rising carbon costs.
Greece’s lignite exit plan, accelerated in recent years, has involved the gradual decommissioning of major thermal units in northwest Macedonia and Megalopoli, in southern Greece, regions heavily dependent on lignite mining and power generation.
