The future of Belene NPP – many questions

published on 10/30/09 12:36 PM

Photo: BGNES

The German RWE company, which holds 49% of Belene NPP, has informed the Bulgarian government that it withdraws from the project. Bulgaria has no intention of suspending the construction and will look for new investors through restructuring the project after European models. That process would take about a year.

The financial crisis has made it difficult to find subsidies for the investment, the company has pointed out, explaining the main reasons for the withdrawal of the German concern. We should remind that RWE was selected as a strategic investor in the construction of Belene NPP last year under the previous Bulgarian government. In order to obtain the 49% of the project the German company had to ensure EUR 1.2 billion. It also had to pay another EUR 500 million for the structuring of the project. So far there has been no financing from that side and the agreement signed with Bulgaria does not engage the company to pay forfeit in case of withdrawal from the agreement. This withdrawal put forth the question on the future of these 49%. Whether the German concern would sell them to another investor or is the state to buy them off.

When coming into power the Borissov cabinet did not reject the project but said that the main point for the new government would be the economic efficiency and future profit the country is to derive from the construction of the second nuclear power plant. It is expected the cost of Belene NPP to reach EUR 10 billion and the project has so far swallowed EUR 430 million. The state’s participation in the project is 51%. The government announced its intention to sell about 30% of it to private investors. Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov said that there are already two foreign companies who have shown interest in the Belene project. The Minister of the Economy and Energy Traicho Traikov commented that an Italian company has voiced readiness to invest in the building of the Plant. Analysts prognosticate that it has happened after the visit of Premier Berlusconi in Sofia and that word is there about the Enel Company. Opinions also circulate about the Belgian Electrabel reappearing as an investor after it lost to its rival RWE.

The only official application so far is that of Russia, which is interested in buying off the state share in the project. It is ready to finance the entire project because in that way the Belene NPP would be the first breakthrough after India of the new Russian nuclear reactors within the EU. This ambition is the reason for a second year in a row the Russian government to be offering a loan to the Bulgarian authorities amounting to EUR 3.8 billion intended for the building of the NPP. Bulgaria refuses to take this offer, expecting that the stabilization of financial markets would make easier the attraction of new investors for crediting the project. Despite the withdrawal of the German RWE from the construction of the Belene NPP, Russian companies have stated they would continue work on the site and would apply in the tender for selecting an investor.

There are still discussions going on concerning the economic efficiency of the project. Today no one engages to prognosticate the use of electricity in the next 5-6 years both in the country and on the Balkans. Bulgaria is one of the biggest exporters of electricity in the region. For the time being, that is. New power producing facilities are under construction in Greece, Serbia and Macedonia, while projects for new nuclear power plants are under way in Romania, Turkey, Albania and Croatia.

English version: Iva Letnikova

По публикацията работи: Tanya Harizanova

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The future of Belene NPP – many questions

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