June 6 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Varna thermal power plant (TPP) has asked the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) to be granted an electricity trading licence, the regulator said..
The EWRC discussed Varna TPP's request at a public session on June 5, the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.
The regulatory authority will take its final decision at a closed-dorr meeting on June 14, its chairman, Ivan Ivanov, said during the meeting, as seen in a video file posted on the regulator's official YouTube channel.
The licence will allow Varna TPP to benefit from being active in both electricity production and electricity trading, Mincho Minchev, CEO of the power plant, said during the meeting.
Varna TPP fully accepts the EWRC working group report concerning the company's request, Minchev added.
According to the EWRC working group report, published on the regulator's website, Varna TPP has the necessary technical expertise, human resources and funds to obtain an electricity trading licence.
Last month, Bulgaria's Electricity System Operator (ESO) said that Varna TPP has won a tender for the supply of 166 MW of power capacity for cold reserve during the period May 1 - July 31. The power plant's bid, which was the only one submitted in the tender, was priced at 7.65 levs ($4.64/3.91 euro) per MWh.
In March, the plant said it plans to resume electricity production by July 31, after it halted operations in 2015 due to non-compliance with environmental limits set in its permit. The company's 2018 investment strategy envisages switching electricity generation to natural gas from coal, Varna TPP said at the time.
Earlier this year, Bulgarian logistics company SIGDA completed the acquisition of Varna TPP from Czech power utility CEZ Group for an undisclosed price.
In September last year, three of Varna TPP's six units were decommissioned, decreasing the plant's capacity to 630 MW from 1,260 MW.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)