April 2 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria has discussed the possibility of capitalising the debt owed by state-owned thermal power plant Maritsa Iztok 2 with the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition, energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova said on Tuesday.
The final decision on whether to go forward with a debt capitalisation scenario will be made by the middle of the year, Petkova said saying during a meeting with trade union representatives, according to a press release issued by the energy ministry .
Bulgaria is also working on developing a capacity mechanism for ensuring the security of electricity supply, which is among the planned long-term measures for the financial stabilisation of the coal-fired power plant, Petkova added. The ministry intends to submit the mechanism for approval by the European Commission in the autumn.
Maritsa Iztok 2 ended the first nine months of 2018 with a net loss of 265.7 million levs ($152.2 million/135.9 million euro), sharply up from a net loss of 83.6 million levs in the comparable period of 2017, as expenses for purchasing greenhouse gas emission allowances soared to 259.2 million levs from 89.1 million levs.
Maritsa Iztok 2 has eight operating units with a total installed capacity of 1,620 MW.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
TETs Maritsa Iztok 2 EAD is among the biggest companies in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here