German Commerzbank has officially proved its interest in the financing of NPP Belene's construction, it transpired after a meeting of Commerzbank's officials with Bulgaria's Minister of Economy and Energy, Rumen Ovcharov. Commerzbank was established some 135 years ago in Hamburg and it is among the four biggest and leading German banks. Commerzbank's officials declared the bank's readiness to become a leading mediator in the provision of a syndicated loan for the construction of NPP Belene. Preliminary calculated, the construction works of 2 nuclear reactors on the ground of NPP Belene will cost about 5 billion euros. German RWE is willing to build a new power site in Thermal Power Plant (TPP) Maritsa-Iztok 3. "The management of the company has approved a project for the construction of a site with an output of between 400 and 600 megawatts, stated Mathias Hartung, member of RWE's Board of Directors, who also had a meting with Bulgaria's Minister of Economy and Energy, Rumen Ovcharov, in Berlin. RWE executes a contract for the rehabilitation of TPP Maritsa-Iztok 3 and for the construction of sulphur-purifying installations. The German company also has a contract for the construction of a shelter for a temporary safe-keeping of the radioactive waste from NPP Kozloduy. The shelter construction costs are worth 48 million euros and it has to be finished off by 2008. At a forum, dedicated to Bulgaria and held in Munich yesterday, Minister Ovcharov appealed to the German companies to invest in Bulgaria's energetics, tourism, and electronics, machine building. Some 200 participants took part in the forum, hosted by Deutsche Bank. "The development of the Bulgarian-German relations will get a new incitement with the visit of German's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to Bulgaria, which is expected very shortly," Minister Ovcharov said. "BMW will examine the opportunities for the production of hydrogen in Bulgaria," Stefan Krause, BMW board member in charge of finance, stated at a meeting with Minister Ovcharov in Munich. BMW is planning to start the mass production of cars with hydrogen engine within a year. BMW will also examine the opportunities that Bulgarian companies become sub-suppliers of its car parts.
Source: Standart (19.01.2006)

Bulgarian businessman Hristo Kovachki acquired yet another power company on Monday, February 27. The Vratsa district heating company was the only participant in Monday's auction for Energoinvestengineering and won without having to bid higher than the guide price of BGN 2.6 mln. Energoinvestengineering is a power engineering company with expertise in the marketing, construction and modernisation of energy facilities. Kovachki owns the Evropa store chain, the Maritsa 3 thermal power plant in Dimitrovgrad and the Chukurovo mines. He acted as consultant on the privatisation deals for the Vratsa district heating company, briquette maker Brikel and the Balkan, Cherno More and Otkrit Vagledobiv-Pernik mining companies.
Source: Dnevnik (28.02.2006)

Enel is ready to invest in the construction of Belene nuclear power plant. The company shows a serious interest, notwithstanding of whether Bulgaria's cabinet will insist on a partner with a minority or a majority shareholding, Enel’s manager for the Balkans, Enrico Viale, said at a seminar for Bulgarian journalists in the company’s headquarters in Rome. In the next few years, Enel intends to invest some 15 billion euro in the energy sector of Southeastern Europe and the company is ready to invest as much resources as needed for the construction of NPP Belene. In Viale’s opinion, the costs for the construction works of NPP Belene will amount to between 2 and 2.5 billion euro. Enel has been operating in Bulgaria since 2003, when the company acquired control over Thermoelectric power plant Maritsa-Iztok 3.
Source: Standart (01.03.2006)

The Enel/RWE consortium will rehabilitate units 1, 3 and 4 of lignite-fired thermal power plant Maritsa Iztok 3, in Southern Bulgaria, replacing the current contractor DSD Dillinger Stahlbau GmbH, Energy Company Maritsa Iztok 3 said after reaching an agreement with the German company to pull out of the project. DSD Dillinger Stahlbau GmbH will continue to be in charge of the retrofitting of the first of two sulphur dioxide removal installation. Enel/RWE will complete the assembly of the other one. Energy Company Maritsa Iztok 3 is co-owned by Dutch-registered Maritsa Iztok Power Holdings with 73% and Bulgaria's national power grid operator NETC. Italian gas and water utility Enel holds 60% of Maritsa Iztok 3 Power Holdings, the remainder is controlled by Entergy of the U.S. Enel is in talks to buy out the stake held by Entergy. The replacement of the contract was prompted by the 18-month delay of the rehabilitation project and aims to avoid further disruptions of the schedule. The deadline for the rehabilitation has been pushed back from 2006 to 2008. The new timetable has been approved by the shareholders and creditors of Energy Company Maritsa Iztok 3. The overall cost of the ongoing rehabilitation project, which will extend the life of the power station by 15 years, is 600 mln euro. A total of 340 mln euro have been absorbed so far. NETC and Energy Company Maritsa Iztok 3 have a 15-year contract for the purchase of the electricity output of the reconstructed facility.
Source: Dnevnik (20.03.2006)

Bulgaria will provide a 300 mln euro guarantee for the loans that will be received from Euroatom and EIB for the construction of the Bulgarian nuclear power plant (NPP) at Belene, on the Danube, Dnevnik learned from energy minister Rumen Ovcharov. The guarantee is a political move aiming to secure EU's backing for the project, said Ovcharov. Previously, the Bulgarian government insisted that the project will involve no state guarantees or long-term electricity purchase deals. The state guarantees will enhance the risk for the investors, said Georgi Angelov from the Institute for Market Economics. In his view, the government is unnerving the investors with its brinkmanship on the structure of the company that will implement the Belene project. The future investment vehicle that will be created to build the Belene NPP will be 51%-owned by the Bulgarian government which will contribute the Belene site to its assets, said Ovcharov. The strategic investor will control the residual equity. Italian water and gas utility Enel, Czech utility company CEZ, Germany's E.ON as well as Russian and Belgian companies are interested in becoming strategic investors in Belene, said the energy minister. The new company will have no obligations regarding the repayment of the credits for the modernisation of units 5 and 6 of the Kozloduy NPP. The criteria for the selection of the investors will be drafted by financial consultant Deloitte&Touche. The strategic investor should be picked on a competitive basis, recommended Angelov. Sources from national power grid operator NETC said that the company could launch the Belene project on its own. The Belene project was suspended in the early 1990s due to cost overruns and environmental concerns. By the time the building of the 1,000MW Soviet-designed plant was put on hold, some 40% of construction works worth $1.0 bln had already been finished, including the delivery of a Skoda reactor. The estimated cost of completing the plant is seen anywhere between 1.5 and 4 bln euro. Czech consortium Skoda Alliance and Russia's AtomStroyExport have filed offers to complete the Belene NPP. NETC is currently reviewing the two bids.
Source: Dnevnik (23.03.2006)

Italian gas and water utility Enel is interested in joining the selection process for a strategic investor in Bulgaria's Belene nuclear power station and expects Sofia to provide more details on its intentions towards the project, Enel CEO Fulvio Conti was quoted by news agency Bloomberg as saying Sunday, May 21. A Skoda-led Czech tie-in and Russia's AtomStroyExport are vying to build Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant.
Source: Dnevnik (22.05.2006)

Bulgaria's national power grid operator NEK posted a 11.7% increase in electricity exports in January-May. Half of the electricity volumes were exported to Greece, some 35% to Serbia with the remainder were bought by Romania and Macedonia. NEK has forecast electricity exports of 7 bln kWh for 2006. More than half of the power export deals were brokered by the 12 traders and go-betweens that do business with NEK. South-eastern Europe is facing a 12 bln kWh shortage due to the outmoded power generation facilities and the loss of export capacity that Bulgaria will experience after the closure of units 3 and 4 of its Kozloduy nuclear power plant, said Mityo Hristozov from NEK. Bulgaria's electricity consumption was secured mainly by the hydro power stations in 2006, said Hristozov. Hydro power output rose 8% last year while thermal power production was up 7%. Domestic power consumption increased by 3.9% in 2005.
Source: Dnevnik (30.05.2006)

Bulgargaz, the Bulgarian state-controlled gas monopoly, and the Universal Terminal Bourgas (UTB) company will be involved in the international corporation that will design and build the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, Sofia decided late last week. UTB was created in 2005 by the Bulgarian government as a catch-all structure for the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis and Bourgas-Vlore pipelines. Bulgarian state-owned construction company Technoexportstroy is a 55% co-owner. Neftoprovod Bourgas-Alexandroupolis BG, co-owned by UTB and Bulgargaz, will control at least 24.5% of Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline contractor. The company will also screen the Bulgarian contractors that want to participate in the project and negotiate the financial packaging of the project. An official press release from the Bulgarian government said the recent consultations with Washington, Brussels, Moscow and Athens entail to fast-track the creation of the international corporation. The cost of the 280 km Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is estimated at 700 mln euro. The facility will initially transit 35 mln barrels of oil.
Source: Dnevnik (05.06.2006)

SEWRC decides today on 5.4% raise in price of power sold to NEK by large producers. The decision concerns the price of electricity purchased by the National Electric Company (NEK) from the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, Maritsa Iztok 3 thermal power plant (TPP), Rousse's heating utility, Varna TPP and Maritsa Iztok 2 TPP. These power plants account for 60% of the electricity generated in Bulgaria. NEK has already proposed that the price of the electricity it sells to electricity distribution companies (EDC) should be raised by 15%. The latter in turn have requested that the price of electricity they sell to industrial and household consumers should go up by between 16-24% and 6-6.9%, respectively. The figures have already been submitted for approval at the State Energy and Water Regulation Commission (SEWRC) and if all these demands are fulfilled, another electricity price hike may be expected in the autumn. Undoubtedly, part, if not all these demands, will be fulfilled by the SEWRC. As a result, the overall increase in the electricity price will be no less than 20%. NEK will calculate the 5.4% increase along with the 15% price-hike demanded by the company in the tariffs offered to EDCs. The increase demanded by NEK will hit directly end consumers, according to EDCs. The price hike demanded by electricity producers will come into effect as of July 1, which is outside of the regulation period in which the SEWRC may revise electricity prices. However, the increase will be calculated by NEK in the prices of electricity sold to EDCs. This means that electricity producers may insist on another price revision as of October 1, when the regulation period starts.
Source: Pari (27.06.2006)

Thermal Electric Power Plant Maritsa 3 JSC - Dimitrovgrad, Bourse code MR3, the annual general meeting of which was held on June 26, 2006, will not distribute dividends for the year 2005. Thermal Electric Power Plant Maritsa 3 JSC - Dimitrovgrad reported a profit for 2005 in the amount of BGN 220,000, which is allocated as Retained Earnings.
Source: Capital market (03.07.2006)

Italian utility company Enel and Bulgaria's national power grid operator NEK have launched a feasibility study for the construction of a new 600-700MW capacity on the site of lignite-fired thermal power plant (TPP) Maritsa Iztok 3, in Southern Bulgaria, said Enrico Viale, executive director of Energiyna Kompaniya Maritsa Iztok 3. Energiyna Kompaniya Maritsa Iztok 3 is co-owned by Dutch-registered Maritsa Iztok Power Holding with 73% and NEK. Enel now holds 73% of Maritsa Iztok 3 Power Holdings after buying out Entergy of the U.S. in June this year. The Italian utility company also acts as investor in the 680 mln euro rehabilitation of the installed capacity of the Maritsa Iztok 3 TPP. The feasibility study is expected to be completed within a year. The cost of two new 300MW reactors is seen at over 1 bln euro but that could be brought down to 800-900 mln euro with the use of the existing infrastructure, said Viale. Enel will invite NEK to become a shareholder in the company that will build the 2 new reactors. The rehabilitation of the existing power station facilities, due for completion by January 2009, will be sped up by 4 to 6 months, said Viale. One renovated reactor has already been handed over while the upgrade of the second one should be finished by March 2007. Enel has also invested 140 mln euro in the retrofitting of the plant with sulphur dioxide removal equipment.
Source: Dnevnik (24.07.2006)

German multi-utility company RWE is interested in building a new 600MW coal-fired capacity in the Maritsa Iztok coal basin, Bulgarian energy minister Rumen Ovcharov said. The company dispatched 2 weeks ago an official latter of interest regarding the project. The new capacity could be built on the site of the Maritsa Iztok 2 thermal power plant (TPP) which currently has 8 units with a combined capacity of 1,460MW. The capacity of the power station will reach 1,700MW after the rehabilitation of the first 4 units is completed. Italian utility company Enel is also interested in the construction of a new capacity in the Marisa Iztok complex which produces 30% of the nation's power. Enel has proposed to build a 600MW capacity on the site of the Maritsa Iztok 3 TPP. The energy ministry will review the proposal and determine if the country needs the proposed new capacity.
Source: Dnevnik (26.07.2006)

Thermal power plant Maritsa 3 Dimitrovgrad, owned by local businessman Hristo Kovachki, has applied for a 10-year power trader permit, the Bulgarian power regulator said on Thursday, August 3. The industry watchdog is expected to take a decision on the application next week. If the bid is successful, the power station will be authorised to buy electricity from power producers and resell it to eligible power consumers. Maritsa 3 Dimitrovgrad already sells its own output to eligible power consumers. After national power grid operator NEK loses its monopoly in 2007, Maritsa 3 Dimitrovgrad will be eligible to also export electricity abroad. The power station will become eligible to sell electricity to end-consumers from July 2007 when households will be able to pick their power utility. Maritsa 3 Dimitrovgrad will compete on the power trading market with licensed traders EFT Bulgaria, Trans Euroenergy, Enemona, Energy Partners, PCC, CEZ Trade and E.ON Trading. The Dimitrovgrad-based power station was acquired by Kovachki in 2003 on the local stock exchange. Bulgaria's electricity export capacity will decrease after the planned shutdown of units 3 and 4 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in 2007. NEK estimates that export capacity will fall by 200 mln to 1.5 bln kWh annually. If the power station is not modernised to meet relevant EU eco standards, Maritsa 3 Dimitrovgrad will cease to operate in 2011
Source: Dnevnik (04.08.2006)

Bulgaria's national power grid operator NEK could be forced to buy electricity produced by small-sized hydro power stations and wind- and biomass-fired power stations at preferential prices for a fixed period of 12 years if parliament adopts the relevant changes to the Energy Act proposed by an MP from the ruling majority. The sponsor of the amendments argues that the lenders loan-financing facilities for renewable energy production require from the borrower to have such a long-term contract for the purchase of the respective power station's output. NEK is campaigning against the proposed amendments, fearing the new long-term contracts could be too much on top of the 15-year agreements it has already signed to purchase the electricity produced by Maritsa Iztok 3 and 2 thermal power stations. However, the power grid operator is amenable to contracts of up to 10 years. Bulgaria raised as of July 1 the price at which the producers sell their output to NEK from 0.12 to 0.175 levs/kWh for wind farms that operate 2,250 hours annually and to 0.156 levs/kWh for wind farms that operate below that threshold. Bulgaria's market for energy from renewable sources is still in its infancy but its share of overall power production should reach 11% by 2010. The market uptake is seen at 1,445MW, including 600MW of wind power capacity. In related news, the power regulator has warned the operators of the nation's 7 electricity distribution companies - Germany's E.ON, CEZ of the Czech Republic and Austria's EVN, that they rate of return could be cut unless they invest in the improvement of service quality and the upgrade of the infrastructure. In 2005, the regulatory slashed the investment targets of the power distributors.
Source: Dnevnik (04.08.2006)

German utility company RWE is ready to invest EUR 700-800 mln in the construction of a new 600MW capacity in the Maritsa Iztok coal basin in Southern Bulgaria, said RWE board member Mathias Hartung. The investor has already communicated the proposal to the Bulgarian government. RWE is ready to invest both in the new power generation capacity and in the Maritsa Iztok mines as well, said Hartung. The Maritsa Iztok coal basin generates 30% of Bulgaria's power output. RWE has suggested to build the new capacity on the site of the Maritsa Iztok 2 thermal power plant (TPP) which currently has 8 units with a combined capacity of 1,460MW. The German company plans to sell the output from the new capacity on the local market. Bulgaria will retire units 3 and 4 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant by the end of 2006. That capacity gap is expected to be filled by a new 670MW replacement capacity commissioned to U.S. company AES, by the upgrade of the Maritsa Iztok 2 and 3 TPPs and the construction of the Tsankov Kamak hydro power complex. RWE's offer competes with that of Italian utility company Enel which is seeking to build a new 600-700MW capacity on the site of Maritsa Iztok 3. The cost of two new 300MW reactors is seen at over 1 bln euro but that could be brought down to EUR 800-900 mln with the use of the existing infrastructure, said Enel. The review of the rival offers should take into account RWE's expertise and the company's desire to solve the social problems of the coal-dependent region, said Hartung. The Maritsa Iztok basin could be overwhelmed by so many projects for new power facilities, said energy minister Rumen Ovcharov. These proposals should be checked against the output capacity of the coal mines, said the government official.
Source: Dnevnik (21.08.2006)

The EUR 220 mln Tsankov Kamak hydro complex is the latest Bulgarian energy project that has been thrown off schedule, a source close to the project told Dnevnik. The construction of the 80MW facility, due for completion by 2008, is facing a delay of around 6 months, said the source. The project, outsourced to Austrian consortium Va Tech Hydro/Alpine Mayreder Bau GmbH/Verbundplan GmbH, is implemented under Austrian-Bulgarian memorandum for understanding and bilateral co-operation to conduct mutual actions on the Kyoto Protocol. The delay is difficult to quantify at the moment not least because of contingency reasons like the flooding in the area, said Lyubomir Velkov, chief executive director at national power grid operator NEK. NEK is in talks with the contractor to specify within 2 months the reasons for the delay and the options to speed up the project, said Velkov. No one at Va Tech Hydro could be reached for comment Monday. Delays have also afflicted the rehabilitation of thermal power plants (TPPs) Maritsa Iztok 2 and 3 while the construction of a replacement capacity on the site of TPP Maritsa Iztok 1 is dragging 5 years behind schedule.
Source: Dnevnik (29.08.2006)

Bulgaria's Dimitrovgrad-based Maritsa 3 thermal power plant (TPP) hopes to increase its sales to some 9 or 10 gW a year after obtaining a license for trade in electricity, the deputy executive director of the company, Miroslav Tsankov, said. Maritsa 3's licensing application was discussed at a meeting of the State Energy and Water Regulation Commission (SEWRC). A decision is expected to be taken at a closed-door session on Thursday. The price proposed stands at BGN 59.31 per mW, including transmission. The company is in negotiations with potential customers, as well as with other electricity producers, such as the Kozloduy nuclear power plant and the TPPs in Rousse and Varna. For the time being Maritsa 3 plans to sell power in Bulgaria only but the region will also become a target after the opening of the market in 2007. We have plans for Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Serbia, Tsankov said.
Source: Pari (30.08.2006)

'Dimitrovgrad-based thermal power plant Maritsa 3, owned by local businessman Hristo Kovachki, will export electricity to Macedonia, Greece and Turkey after the Bulgarian market is deregulated in 2007, said Borislav Tsankov, deputy director of the power station. The power regulator is expected to announce Thursday whether the TPP will be granted an electricity trader licence. At the moment, Maritsa 3 sells electricity to fertiliser plant Agropolychim and paper mill Trakia Papir. 'We are in talks with potential customers who want to buy 9-10 gigawatts annually,' said Tsankov. Bulgaria has so far licensed 11 power traders, including EFT Bulgaria, CEZ Trade Bulgaria, E.ON Bulgaria Trading, Enemona Utilities, Energy Partners, PCC Energyand Energy Trading.
Source: Dnevnik (30.08.2006)

Dimitrovgrad-based Maritsa 3 thermal power plant (TPP) was granted a licence to trade in electrical energy at Thursday's closed-door meeting of the State Energy and Water Regulation Committee. Thus the number of licensed electricity traders in Bulgaria increased to 13. The company was found to meet all regulatory conditions. The term of Maritsa 3's permit is ten years. The company's decision to request a licence is prompted by the pending liberalisation of the electricity market in Bulgaria. Maritsa 3 also has plans to sell power on the regional market after January 1, 2007.
Source: Pari (01.09.2006)

DSD Dillinger Stahlbau GmbH was charged a default penalty for the delay in the rehabilitation of lignite-fired thermal power plant (TPP) Maritsa Iztok 3, in Southern Bulgaria, which the German company was hired to carry out, Enrico Viale, executive director of Energiyna Kompaniya Maritsa Iztok 3, told the Bulgarian power regulator on Tuesday. Viale did not reveal the penalty amount, citing confidentiality reasons but said it was paid by the contract before its replacement. Energiyna Kompaniya Maritsa Iztok 3 is co-owned by Dutch-registered Maritsa Iztok Power Holdings with 73 per cent and Bulgaria's national power grid operator NEK. Italian utility company Enel holds 73 per cent of Maritsa Iztok 3 Power Holdings. The replacement of the contractor was prompted by the 18-month delay of the rehabilitation project and aimed to avoid further disruptions of the hand-over schedule. The deadline for the rehabilitation has been pushed back 28 months. Enel said it plans to speed up the project by 4 to 6 months. One unit and a sulphur dioxide removal installation have so far been completed.
Source: Dnevnik (07.09.2006)

Italian energy giant Enel Group, which recently acquired 73% of Bulgaria's thermal power plant Maritsa Iztok 3, reported about two billion euro profit for the first six months of the year, which is by 34% more than the profit for the same period of the last year. The financial results were presented in Rome by Fulvio Conti, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Enel. Enel's revenues increased by 18% to 19 billion euro. In the first six months of the year Enel has sold 71 twh of electricity and its electricity transmission network has transmitted 126 twh in Italy. Enel also shows considerable interest in the construction of the NPP Belene and the Nabucco pipeline. The energy giant also aspires to buy the central heating company in the town of Rousse on the Danube.
Source: Standart (08.09.2006)

Bulgaria to Lose EUR 400 Million from Shrinking Power Export "Bulgaria will annually lose EUR 400 million after the decommissioning of units 3 and 4 of NPP Kozlodui on December, 31, 2006. This will lead to a sharp decline of Bulgaria's export of power," Bulgarian Minister of Economy and Energy, Rumen Ovcharov, stated in the city of Plovdiv. "Bulgaria's total power export for 2007 will hardly exceed 1.5 billion kilowatts/hors. For comparison, in 2006, the power export is expected to reach 9 billion kilowatt/hours," Minister Ovcharov said further. "This sharp decrease will have a bad influence on the energy balance since power export forms nearly 10 per cent of all Bulgaria's export revenues. The decommissioning of units 3 and 4 of NPP Kozlodui will also have a negative impact on the energy balance in the whole Balkan region. As of the next year, Bulgaria completely terminates power supply to Greece to cover domestic needs, which are growing much faster than previously envisaged. Bulgaria is expected to export over 3.5 billion kilowatt/hours to Greece in 2006. Bulgaria may cover its future loses with the establishment of new power generating units; one of the options is to launch the construction of NPP Belene. The other option is Maritsa 1, 2 and 3 Thermal Power Plants.
Source: Standart (11.09.2006)

Maritsa Iztok Mines' coal output since the beginning of 2006 reached a record high 14.08 million tonnes in the middle of September, Ivan Markov, executive director of the company, said. This year's target is set at 20.7 million tonnes. Maritsa Iztok Mines will have to produce 34.6 million tonnes of coal annually by 2009 in order to keep up with demand, estimates made by Bulgaria's Minproekt and ordered by Italy's ENEL show. The company will have to invest at least BGN 70 million annually in technological upgrade over the next 3-4 years in order to achieve this target, according to Markov.
Source: Pari (19.09.2006)

Maritsa Iztok 3 Power Company Monday said it has successfully completed the refinancing of the Maritsa Iztok 3 TPP refurbishment project. The company has secured a loan of 450 mln euro with a door to door tenor of 17 years to cover all the planned investments for the ongoing rehabilitation of the Maritsa Iztok 3 thermal power plant (TPP). The French investment bank Societe Generale has arranged and underwritten the new loan. The loan is covered by an unconditional repayment guarantee provided by SACE, the Italian credit risk insurer. By entering into the loan agreement Maritsa Iztok 3 Power Company was able to lock in improved financing conditions, including an extended repayment period and significantly reduced interest cost. The new loan will be used to repay the company’s outstanding debt under the existing loan agreements and finance the ongoing refurbishment of the power plant. The new single loan will replace the company’s existing long term debt financing package which consisted of four different loan tranches by various multilateral institutions, international and local banks. Maritsa Iztok 3 Power Company will pass on part of the benefits of the new financing in the form of a tariff reduction to the power off-taker, NEK, in accordance with what is foreseen in the Power Purchase Agreement entered into in 2003 as a commitment by the project to share the benefit of a refinancing with NEK. Last week, the company said it had entered into a 22 mln euro contract with Bulgarian company Totema Engineering for the design, manufacturing and construction of a gypsum dewatering plant to remove water from the gypsum produced in the new FGD desulphurisation installations of the TPP. Maritsa Iztok 3 Power Company AD is jointly owned by Enel, the Italian power company 73% and NEK, the Bulgarian power grid operator (27%). The company operates a 840MW lignite fired power plant in the Stara Zagora region of Bulgaria.
Source: Dnevnik (03.10.2006)

Bulgaria's National Electric Company (NEK) and Italy's Enel are signing a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday concerning feasibility studies for the construction of additional electricity-generating facilities on the site of thee Maritsa Iztok 3 thermal power plant (TPP). The capacity of the new plant will be about 600 mW. The Italian company is a majority partner with NEK in Energy Company Maritsa Iztok 3 and has committed to upgrade the TPP's units and install desulphurising facilities. The plans for a new plant were first unveiled in December 2005. Later on it emerged that Enel would invest some EUR 15 billion in the region. Enel is also expected to sign a memorandum with Bulgargas on the development of a gas pipeline from Bulgaria via Macedonia and Albania to Italy, which will parallel transport Corridor No. 8.
Source: Sega (04.10.2006)

Bulgaria could be headed for a power capacity shortfall of around 700-800MW if weather conditions over the next couple of months are particularly cold, says an economy ministry report submitted to the parliamentary energy policy committee. The lower power output capacity is due to the undersupply of coal for the Varna and Ruse thermal power plants and ongoing repairs at power stations in the Maritsa Iztok coal basin. The situation will be further complicated by the switch-off in early 2007 of units 3 and 4 of the Kozloduy nuclear power station. In addition, national railway carrier BDZ lacks the necessary cars to transport coal to the Bobov Dol TPP. TPP Maritsa Iztok 3, undergoing modernisation by Italy's Enel, is also dogged by power equipment glitches. Bulgarian economy minister Rumen Ovcharov has duly warned Brussels of the regional power shortfall that will follow the stoppage of the Kozloduy units.
Source: Dnevnik (02.11.2006)

The Maritsa Iztok mining company has applied to be issued a 35-year permit to operate as an electricity trader. At the moment, the mines buy electricity directly from the Kozloduy nuclear power plant and were one of the first local corporations to enter the deregulated segment of the Bulgarian power market. The mines have a 110kV network that connects to several industrial power consumers which do not have access to the infrastructure of national power grid operator NEK, said executive director Ivan Markov. On Friday, the local power regulator will review an application for a 10-year power trading permit submitted by Stadkraft South East Europe, a subsidiary of Stadkraft Europe which is in turn owned by Norway's Stadkraft. Bulgaria has so far licensed 15 power traders, including EFT Bulgaria, Energy Partners, PPC, CEZ Trade, E.ON Bulgaria Trading, Enemona Utilities and Transeuro Energy.
Source: Dnevnik (15.11.2006)