January 31 (SeeNews) - All five shortlisted candidates for taking part in Bulgaria's Belene nuclear power plant (NPP) project have confirmed that they are ready to submit binding offers in the procedure for selection of a strategic investor, the energy ministry said on Friday.
Confirmation letters have been received from China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC); Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power; Russia's Atomenergoprom, a subsidiary of Rosatom; France's Framatome and US-based General Electric, the ministry said in a press release.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power have submitted questions seeking clarifications prior to making a final decision on whether to take part in the project, the ministry added.
The candidates will be invited to sign confidentiality agreements and will be provided with information on the project.
The indicative deadline for submitting binding offers is May 31, the energy ministry said.
Framatome and General Electric have been put on the shortlist after they proposed to supply equipment for the planned power plant and arrange financing for it, the energy ministry said in December, when it invited the candidates to submit binding offers.
General Electric has expressed interest in structuring project finance as well as participating as a designer and a supplier of equipment for turbine control room, compressors, transformers and other pieces of equipment. Framatome has stated its interest in taking part in the structuring of project finance for safety systems, including electrical ones as well as control systems.
In August of last year, North Macedonia and two Bulgaria-based companies - Atomenergoremont and Grand Energy Distribution, declared interest to acquire minority interest in the project company. They have also declared interest in purchasing electricity from the future NPP.
"The procedure is flexible, giving options to the selected strategic investor to negotiate with the companies interested in acquiring a minority stake or purchasing electricity from the future power plant," the ministry said at the time.
In June 2018, the parliament mandated energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova to seek potential strategic investors willing to build a nuclear power plant in Belene - a project abandoned since 2012 which the government aims to revive.
Belene NPP must be built on a market basis, as the state will not sign long-term power purchase agreements with the investor, nor will it provide state guarantees, the energy ministry said in March. Bulgaria will participate in the project company via a non-monetary contribution - the reactors and other equipment plus the construction site and the respective licences.
In December 2016, following international arbitration, Bulgaria paid some 600 million euro ($664.8 million) in compensation to Russia's Atomstroyexport for the equipment already manufactured by the company for the project. The equipment is now stored at the site designated for the construction of the power plant.
($ = 0.902568 euro)