OREANDA-NEWS. Hitachi, Ltd. announced that Hitachi Power Europe GmbH ("HPE"), a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. , and HPE's client Terna S.A. will turnkey-construct the 660 MW "Ptolemais V" lignite power plant in northern Greece and place it into operation. The contract with Greek energy supplier Public Power Corporation ("PPC") was signed by Terna on 9 March in the presence of representatives from the world of politics and business. The shareholders' meeting of PPC has now given its consent.

The supply offer from HPE and Terna - a proven Greek plant constructor - prevailed in an international bid invitation. As Terna's sub-contractor, HPE is responsible for the entire design engineering. It will also supply the utility steam generator including balance-of-plant and - together with parent Hitachi, Ltd. - the steam turbine generator and the entire flue gas cleaning system. Terna will construct the power plant and place it into operation.

PPC is a quoted company. The majority of its shareholdings are held by the Greek state. Its field of operations range from lignite mining to power generation and distribution. With an installed capacity close to 13,000 MW, PPC disposes of approx. 70? of Greece's power generation capacity.

The new unit will be built in Ptolemais - an industrial and mining region in northern Greece - some 500 kms from Athens. A number of older lignite units (Ptolemais II to IV) are already in service at the location. The new, highly efficient Unit V will be constructed on the site of a dismantled lignite mine. Building is set to start in 2015 with the plant going into commercial operation in 2019. In view of its considerably higher efficiency, the Ptolemais power plant will not only require substantially less fuel but will also emit much less CO2 than plants already existing today in Greece. HPE subsidiaries Donges SteelTec (steel construction/ main supports) and Meeraner Dampfkesselbau (pressure parts) are integrated into constructing the new power plant.