PTOLEMAIDA, Greece, Dec 27, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Mayor Panagiotis Plakentas fears what will happen to the town of Ptolemaida and the surrounding region when the last of the brown coal power plants in northern Greece close next year. Western Macedonia has for decades been the centre of Greece's brown coal mining industry that fed its lignite-fired power stations. But now with power plant after power plant closing "unemployment is rising and the jobs that are being cut aren't being replaced", said Plakentas, further crippling a region with the country's highest jobless rate. Its last two brown coal plants will close next year, with the one in Ptolemaida being converted to run on natural gas, as Greece moves away from highly-polluting lignite in a sweeping transition towards renewable energy. Many locals want the land back that was expropriated by PPC years ago to mine the low-grade brown coal so they can farm it again.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha December 27, 2025 06:46 UTC