Lignite

On one side there is Bodrum; on the other side there is Marmaris. At the center of this paradise lies the Yatağan Thermal Power Station with its giant polluting capacity.

A destroyed road near the lignite coal mine area, where a huge landslide occurred near Amyntaio, Monday. Big masses of soil moved about 40 meters, causing dozens of residents of nearby village Agioi Anargyroi to evacuate their homes. A large portion of the mine collapsed and four excavators were crushed under tons of soil.

Greece's international creditors are proposing the sale of 40 percent of the lignite and hydroelectric power plants of the Public Power Corporation, starting from July, and ending in the first half of 2018, according to a draft of the plan seen by Kathimerini.

On October 25 Greece's Public Power Corporation (PPC) will conduct its first auction of electricity capacity to third parties, concerning a total hydroelectric and lignite power of 460 megawatts.

The measure is a part of the conditions agreed by Athens with Greece's creditors in exchange for an international bailout.

Aksa Enerji has opened a 270-MW power plant that will produce electricity using local coal resources for $390 million in the Göynük district of the Black Sea province of Bolu. 

Turkey's first power plant investment with the coal royalty will produce 2 billion kilowatt/hour (kWh) energy every year, the company stated in a press release on Aug. 14.

By Chryssa Liaggou

The partial rather than complete lifting of distortions in the electricity market has worked in favor of imports and has not produced an increase in lignite use, as expected, the official data of the Public Power Corporation and the Hellenic Electricity Market Operator (LAGIE) showed for 2014 and the first quarter of 2015.

As the wounds of the recent coal mine accident that killed 18 workers in the Central Anatolian heartland of Karaman are still fresh, the Energy Ministry has given licenses for three new mines in the same area, which is estimated to have a lignite coal reserve of 1.83 billion tons.

Aktor, a subsidiary of Athens-listed company Ellaktor SA, announced on Wednesday the signing an agreement for the lease of a lignite mine in the Florina region of northwestern Greece.

The contract provides for the extraction of 120 million tons of lignite and will bring above 150 million euros of net profits for the Greek state in the first 15 years.

[Reuters]

Greece faced nationwide power cuts on Thursday as a rolling strike began against government plans to break up the country's main electricity provider.

State power distribution operator DEDDIE said one-hour cuts would be imposed from midday in various parts of the mainland as 13 production plants of the Public Power Corporation went offline.

I have to admit that before I read the activity report 2012 of the Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKÄ°), I had no idea that this corporation had become one of the most profitable public enterprises in Turkey.