Croatian state-owned power utility group HEP and Japan's Marubeni are
close to completing negotiations on the construction and management of
the Plomin C thermal power plant (TPP), local media reported on Monday.
The
two companies, which have been in active talks for a year, are due to
shortly sign agreements related to the project's implementation and
financing, news portal Poslovni.hr reported quoting Marubeni Europower
president Hiroshi Tachigami.
Tachigami also said that talks have been launched with several international banks, including a few from Japan.
In
September, HEP named Marubeni preferred bidder in a procedure for
selecting a strategic partner on the project which attracted three
offers. In March the parties signed an agreement to enter into exclusive
talks.
HEP earlier said the project is worth 800 million euro
($887.9 million), as the strategic partner would design, engineer,
finance, build, operate and maintainthe 500 megawatt coal-fired Plomin C
power station.
Tachigami explained that the construction of the
plant will be financed with share capital and debt, as HEP and Marubeni
will inject equity capital and agree on a financing plan which will
appeal to a majority of international credit agencies.
Tachigami
added that Plomin C will reduce Croatia’s dependency on imported
electricity as it is due to produce some 3.5 TWh annually, equal to 20%
of Croatia’s yearly consumption. He explained that in terms of
environment protection, the replacement of the old Plomin plant by TPP
Plomin C will cut emissions drastically, including shaving 22% per kWh
off the CO2 currently emitted.
However, in February, Croatia’s
environment minister said that the new government may call off the
planned construction of the 500 MW Plomin C thermal power plant in order
to comply with the European Union's plans to boost renewable energy and
reduce CO2 emissions. The environment ministry is considering a new
energy strategy aimed at turning Croatia's economy towards sustainable
and low carbon development with a view of mitigating the effects of
climate change, Slaven Dobrovic said.
Asked about the deal with
Marubeni, Dobrovic said at the time that he is not aware of the
technicalities of the negotiations, but added that any possible
liabilities would be incomparable to the damage that such a facility
would create because it is an unsustainable system, both economically
and environmentally.
HEP group owns and operates over 4,000 MW of
installed generation capacity and 974 MW of heat production capacity,
including 25 hydroelectric plants and eight thermal power plants fired
by oil, natural gas or coal.
(SEE News)