George Papandreou's government is trying to promote green investment, especially in renewables, to help pull the country out of the deepest recession on record.
"This photovoltaic park is a defining project in our drive to change the Greek development model and attract innovative investment," Mr Papandreou said of the scheme in the north of the country.
The prime minister made the announcement on Thursday during a visit to Kozani, where an ageing power complex generates more than 40 per cent of Greece's electricity supply from locally mined lignite, known as brown coal.
The 200-megawatt photovoltaic installation would partly cover a site close to the complex, formerly used for strip-mining of lignite. Its capacity would be more than double that of the 80MW Sarnia photovoltaic park in Canada, currently the world's largest.
Photovoltaics is the creation of a voltage or electric current in a material upon exposure to light.
Arthur Zervos, chief executive of the state electricity utility Public Power Corporation, said the project would include a plant to produce solar panels for a growing regional market.
He said PPC Renewables, a wholly owned subsidiary, was seeking a strategic partnership with an international provider of solar power technology and services.
A proposed deal between PPC and SunEdison, the solar power division of US chipmaker MEMC, fell through last year over concerns about compliance with European Union regulations on public procurement.
"As a public company we chose to launch an international tender for the Kozani project in order to ensure full transparency," Mr Zervos said.
He said PPC expected to close a deal with a strategic partner this year. The installation would start operating in 2013.
PPC is already developing a 50MW photovoltaic park at Megalopolis in southern Greece, also close to an elderly lignite-fired power plant.
"It helps that the grid infrastructure is already in place at these kinds of sites," Mr Zervos said.
As well as SunEdison, Chinese and German investors have shown interest in the Kozani project, according to government officials.
Greece has lagged behind Spain and Italy in developing photovoltaic installations in spite of offering subsidies for renewables investments, because of long drawn-out licensing procedures.
Private investors face growing difficulty in raising finance for building new parks or expanding existing installations amid fears the country may be heading for a sovereign default.
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