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Vattenfall, RWE, E.ON, EDF in running for Baltic nuclear plant
Vilnius (AFP) March 12, 2009 Swedish energy group Vattenfall, Germany's RWE or E.ON, or France's EDF could win the construction contract for a four-nation nuclear power plant in Lithuania, officials said here Thursday. Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas singled out the four market giants but told reporters that "other large electricity companies" could also be in the running. Sekomkas also warned that the plant was unlikely to be online by 2018. "Progress has been minimal, and it's hard to believe that it will be built as planned in 2018," he said. Sekomkas added that LEO Lt, the public-private Lithuanian group created in 2008 to run the project, would not play a major role. "To think that they can build a nuclear power plant would be naive," he said. "LEO Lt can be involved up to a point, but when it comes to construction, I don't think they have the experience, the knowledge or the financial resources to implement this project," he added. "A strategic investor has to build it, a company with the experience, knowledge and financial resources," he said. The Lithuanian government plans to invite tenders for the plant this year, he said. Lithuania is home to a Soviet-era power station near Ignalina in the east of the country -- the same type that exploded at Chernobyl in 1986. Vilnius pledged to close the plant by 2010 as part of the terms of its admission to the European Union in 2004. Lithuania and its fellow ex-communist 2004 EU entrants Poland, Latvia and Estonia have agreed to build a replacement plant and reduce their reliance on energy from their former master Russia. An earlier target had been to bring the new plant online by 2015, but that objective was shifted. Experts have long suggested even 2020 would be more realistic. Progress has been limited in part due to disagreement about the share-out of the new plant's power. Poland argues that with a population of 38 million, compared to the combined seven million in its three Baltic partners, it deserves a big slice. One of Ignalina's reactors was already closed in December 2004 and Lithuania is worried about a looming power shortfall because the plant provides the bulk of its power. To try to cope, Lithuania is hoping by 2010 to be linked to the Polish electricity grid, which would also allow it to import electricity from elsewhere in Europe. But moves to build the so-called "power bridge" have also been slow. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Enel to raise 8 billion euros, net profit jumps
Rome (AFP) March 12, 2009Italian energy group Enel said on Thursday it will raise up to eight billion euros (10.1 billion dollars) in fresh capital this year to reduce debt taken on to fund its acquisition of Spanish Endesa. |
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