Greek gas supplier DEPA signs deal to build power plant in Larissa

ATHENS (Reuters) -Greek gas supplier DEPA Commercial has signed an agreement for a 600 million-euro ($680 million) project to build a gas-fired power plant in Larissa, it said on Wednesday.

Cyprus-based company Clavenia, which is owned by an Israeli real estate group, and two Greek companies, energy and telecommunications provider Volton and private equity EUSIF Larissa, will participate in the project.

The 792 MW power plant has received all necessary permits and will be built in the industrial area of Larissa, in the central part of the country, DEPA said in the statement

It will be built with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries technology.

"This is a new natural gas-fired electricity production unit. A unit that will create new jobs, strengthen competition and lead to lower electricity prices for consumers," Greece's Minister for Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou said.

Greece has ramped up renewables output from sun and wind for power generation as it aims to shut down all its coal-fired plants by next year. It still, however, relies heavily on gas imports for electricity.

($1 = 0.8820 euros)

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Ivana Sekularac, editing by Ed Osmond)