The announcement came on Wednesday from PPC’s Chairman and CEO Georgios Stassis during the company’s presentation of its 2024 financial results.
The project, described as a "Mega Data Center," is designed to be one of the largest of its kind in Southeastern Europe. According to Stassis, it will be developed in two phases. The first phase involves the construction of facilities with a capacity of 300 megawatts (MW), while the second phase will add an additional 700 MW, bringing the total capacity to 1 gigawatt (GW). This scale of infrastructure would place the center among the leading data hubs in Europe.
Stassis emphasized that the decision to locate the facility in Western Macedonia was strategic. The area offers unique opportunities to build energy solutions that operate independently of the national grid—known as “behind the meter” systems—by harnessing newly developed local power generation capacity. The infrastructure supporting the data center will include a 500 MW combined-cycle gas turbine plant, 300 MW of battery energy storage systems, and 300 MW of pumped hydro storage. The center will also be linked to 400 kV high-voltage networks and state-of-the-art telecommunications systems.
The company highlighted that the investment is still at a preliminary, optional stage. Its execution will depend heavily on securing commitments from global hyperscalers—major technology firms such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft that run massive data centers worldwide. Their involvement is seen as crucial to mitigating investment risk, as PPC plans to enter into long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with these end users. These contracts would typically lock in electricity prices for periods of 10 to 20 years.
PPC also clarified that it does not intend to fund the entire development alone. Instead, it will seek one or more partners to co-invest in the project, who would acquire a minority stake. Additionally, the company stands to benefit from revenues generated through the leasing or granting of its real estate assets in the region to the data center’s eventual users.
If realized, the Mega Data Center could mark a significant transformation for Western Macedonia—a former coal-reliant region—as it shifts toward becoming a hub for clean energy and digital infrastructure.
