February 6 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia plans to stop buying power produced by the combined cycle power plant TE-TO in the future because it is a Russian investment, local media reported on Tuesday, citing deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, Fatmir Bytyqi.
The country will not depend on TE-TO's production after the completion of the natural gas interconnector with Greece and the construction of the co-generation facility by Greek industrial conglomerate Mytilineos, news portal Faktor reported, citing Bytyqi as saying.
North Macedonia's government will support Mytilineos' investment with 50 million euro for the works on the facility, which should be completed within five years, Bytyqi added. The total value of the investment is 211 million euro ($226.3 million), according to an earlier statement by the government.
The governments of North Macedonia and Greece signed an agreement for the construction of a cross-border natural gas interconnector in 2021. North Macedonia launched a tender for the works on its part in November.
TE-TO AD Skopje operates a combined cycle power plant in Skopje with a heating energy capacity of 160 megawatts (MW) and an electricity production capacity of 220 MW.
TE-TO is majority-owned by Cyprus-based Bitar Holdings Limited, which in turn is owned by Russian power producer TGC-2.
($ = 0.932 euro)