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26.01.2012 13:52

CEZ May Seek Investor for Two New Reactors at Temelin

The reactors are intended to replace CEZ’s aging coal-fired plants, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and solidify the Czech Republic’s position as a regional power exporter

AUTHOR: publics.bg

© CEZ

CEZ AS (CEZ), the largest power producer in central and eastern Europe, will consider bringing in an investment partner to help finance a USD 10 billion project to build two reactors at the Temelin nuclear power station.

“It’s one of the options we are actually assessing,” Martin Novak, the chief financial officer of CEZ, said yesterday, as quoted by Bloomberg. “We are definitely looking at models of how nuclear plants are built today in Europe. We are looking at forms of sharing the risk. ”

The Prague-based utility is in the process of choosing a supplier to build two reactors in Temelin from Westinghouse Electric Corp., France’s Areva (AREVA) SA, and a Russian-Czech consortium led by Rosatom Corp.’s unit Atomstroyexport. The winner of the tender will be picked by the end of next year and the construction should start no later than 2016, Novak said.

The reactors are intended to replace CEZ’s aging coal-fired plants, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and solidify the Czech Republic’s position as a regional power exporter. CEZ increased sales of electricity to Germany last year after Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered the shutdown of some of the country’s oldest reactors following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

While CEZ is capable of financing the construction of Temelin units 3 and 4 on its own through a combination of cash flow and debt, inviting another investor remains an option because it would leave the Czech utility a freer hand to invest in other projects, according to the executive.