bulgaria • RESTRUCTURE Bulgaria has received a212.5 million ($201.8 million) in loans from the European Commission to help modernise two 1000 MWe reactors at Kozloduy. The money will be given to the National Electric Company (NEC) after the government agreed to close the older 440 MWe Kozloduy reactors earlier than scheduled in order to secure its place in talks on ascension to the EU. The EU said that the project aims to raise the safety standards of the plant to acceptable Western levels.
The news follows the State Energy Regulation Committee’s (SERC) completion of draft of contract regulations for the energy business, a pre-condition on the unbundling of NEC. The plans will see the thermal, hydroelectric and the Kozloduy plant included into independent power groups.
However, except where a power purchase contract is concomitant on a new development, the Energy Law prevents contracts of more than one year duration, a potential sticking point for a number of developments. Among the projects, backed by Western companies and dependent on several years of assured income are the Maritsa-Iztok 2 & 3 facilities and the upgrade to Kozloduy. Maritsa-Iztok 2 & 3 are joint ventures with Germany’s RWE and US group Entergy respectively.
