Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was in attendance as Holcim broke ground on its new flagship project at its Milaki plant.
The milestone marked a progression in the construction materials producer’s flagship Olympus project, which will enable the production of “near-zero” cement.
The Milaki plant will be engineered to produce up to two million tonnes of “near-zero” cement from 2029 to advance Europe’s Clean Industrial Deal. The project is being funded by a planned investment of €400 million. It has also been selected by the EU Innovation Fund for grant funding.
“This is a project of strategic importance, a project made possible thanks to the combination of private funding from the parent company — and we thank you for the trust you place in our country — as well as significant European funding,” Mitsotakis said.
“And surely, this investment did not receive the name of the legendary OLYMPUS by chance. We are talking about an investment of nearly €400 million, of which €125 million is European funds.
“But, of course, I would say that the most important aspect is the creation of well-paid jobs: more than 1000 new positions during the construction phase alone, and an additional 100 jobs during the operational phase. I would say this is the social footprint left by the advancement of industry in our country.”
The Olympus project will see the deployment of OxyCalciner and Cryocap FG technologies for carbon capture. Holcim has estimated Olympus will create more than 1000 direct and indirect jobs.
“Holcim is on course to make near-zero cement and concrete a reality at scale this decade, as the leading partner for sustainable construction,” Holcim chief executive officer Miljan Gutovic said.
“The OLYMPUS project in Greece is one of our seven large-scale, European Union-supported carbon capture, utilisation and storage projects that are setting the Clean Industrial Deal in motion. Together, these will enable Holcim to offer over 8 million tons of near-zero cement each year across Europe by 2030.”
