Northern Greece Faces Economic and Social Strain as Brown Coal Plants Close

Ptolemaida and the surrounding region in northern Greece are facing a period of economic uncertainty as the last brown coal power plants are set to close next year, local officials warn. Mayor Panagiotis Plakentas told AFP that eight out of ten young people who leave the area for education never return, raising fears that the region could experience a dramatic decline similar to Detroit after the collapse of the US car industry.

For decades, Western Macedonia has been the heart of Greece’s brown coal mining industry, supplying lignite to the country’s power stations. But the shift away from highly-polluting lignite toward renewable energy is forcing a transformation in the local economy. The region now struggles with rising unemployment and a lack of replacement jobs as power plants close. Greece’s last two brown coal plants will cease operations next year, with Ptolemaida’s facility being converted to run on natural gas.

Residents feel caught between progress and hardship. Three men who will soon lose their jobs at the Agios Dimitrios plant, set to close in May, reflected on the area’s reliance on lignite. “The lignite monoculture has been both a blessing and a curse for the region,” one said. “It has provided work for decades, but dependence on it makes us feel there’s no tomorrow.”

Public Power Corporation (PPC), the country’s state utility, has pledged more than five billion euros of investment in solar parks, data centers, and energy storage projects over the next three years. Local council head Ilias Tentsoglidis, however, said these projects have yet to materialize, criticizing what he called the “brutal de-lignite-ization.” Many locals want to reclaim expropriated land for farming rather than industrial use. “Our villages are emptying, and in the region’s most fertile plain, we’re sowing glass and concrete,” Tentsoglidis said, referring to solar installations.

Western Macedonia’s unemployment rate stands at more than double the national average of 8.1 percent, while the region has lost around ten percent of its population over the last decade. Unions estimate that over 10,000 jobs have already disappeared, and the number could double by 2028 as the green transition continues.

Environmental and health issues have also been a concern. Decades of lignite extraction polluted the air and groundwater, with a recent court ruling ordering PPC to pay 1.5 million euros in damages for groundwater contamination near Kozani. Studies show that declining pollution has coincided with reduced rates of heart disease in the area.

Workers face uncertainty about their future. Alexis Kokkinidis, a 45-year-old mechanic at the Agios Dimitrios plant, described the coming months as filled with “uncertainty and fear.” “The only thing keeping me here is emotional attachment,” he said. “I was born and raised here, but you can’t live on feelings.”