Polish state-controlled power utility PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA
(PGE.WA) and a group of other state-held companies will continue to work
on a nuclear power plant project despite regulatory delays, PGE said
Tuesday.
In September, Poland's second-largest electricity producer,
Tauron Polska Energia (TPE.WA), its smaller rival Enea SA (ENA.WA), and
copper miner KGHM Polska Miedz SA (KGH.WA) each said they would buy 10%
of PGE's nuclear project. PGE will retain 70%.
The deal was subject to regulatory approvals and the
government's publication of a new program for nuclear power by the end
of this year, which hasn't happened.
Poland's government decided in 2008 to push forward with the
construction of the first nuclear power plant to cut its dependency on
highly polluting coal as the country's main energy source, putting the
state-owned PGE at helm of the project.
However, the global financial crisis and a nuclear disaster in
Japan sidelined the very expensive project and the government focused
on unconventional gas resources as a way to diversify energy production.