Greek renewables developer Mytilineos and regional utility PPC Group have signed a new deal to develop and construct 2GW of solar PV assets in Southeastern Europe.
The roughly €2 billion (US$2.1 billion) Cooperation Framework Agreement (CFA) will support the development and construction of 90 solar PV projects across Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania over the next three years.
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The capacity – all owned by Mytilineos – will be shared relatively equally across the four countries: 503MW in Italy, 516MW in Romania, 500MW in Bulgaria and 445MW in Croatia. PPC Group will take ownership of the projects following development, construction and connection to their respective grids.
PPC Group said the deal, which sees two Greek companies collaborate on an entirely non-Greek portfolio, was “a landmark for the leading role that Greek companies can play in the wider region and Europe’s energy security.” The utility said that it is pursuing growth across Southeastern Europe, and this deal opens up new markets in Italy, Bulgaria and Croatia.
Deputy CEO and head of Renewable Energy Sources of PPC Group, Konstantinos Mavros, said: “The agreement we have signed creates value for both parties and consolidates our group’s presence in Southeastern Europe. The gradual addition of new projects to PPC’s RES portfolio, in new countries, in accordance with our strategy, allows us to leverage our overall planning for the creation of energy corridors in the wider region.”
Mytilineos is a major renewables developer worldwide. Following this deal with PPC, its total development, construction, and operations and maintenance (O&M) portfolio totals around 10.5GW.
In January, the company secured €400 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support the buildout and development of its 2.6GW European solar PV and energy storage pipeline.
In addition to wider European activity, Mytilineos said that it has singled out the Italian market for particular significance in its business plan. Following a 2021 which saw the company expand its operations as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) operations and a subsequent focus on build-operate-transfer project investments, Mytilineos said that it is pursuing an integrated utility business model in Italy.
Southern and Southeastern Europe is a growing market for PV. Last month, the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy launched a tender seeking 1.4GW of new renewables and 350MW of battery energy storage systems (BESS) shortly after the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) guaranteed a loan for a 112MW PV project in the north of the country.
The largest of the markets included in Mytilineos and PPC’s deal, Italy has seen a surge in solar deployments of late following years of poor performance. In 2023 5GW of solar PV capacity came online, the largest figure in over a decade and 85% up from 2022. As discussed at the Large Scale Solar Europe 2024 event in Lisbon last month, grid constraints are a concern for Italian solar developers, as with most European countries. But the grid operator Terna recently announced an €18 billion (US$19.1 billion) investment over the next five years to shift the grid from a traditional, centralised system to a more modern system that can accommodate a rise in distributed generation sources like solar PV.