October 3 (SeeNews) - Czech power utility CEZ said on Wednesday it has opened a tender for 1.757 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity, which is to be supplied in 2008 from its thermal power plant (TPP) in Bulgaria’s Black Sea city of Varna.
“The plant [Varna TPP] will use 200 MW of its installed capacity from January to December 2008 to supply the quantity, which equals to 40% of the electric energy on the free market in Bulgaria,” the company said in a statement.
Bulgaria had to liberate its electricity market from July 1, under the requirements of the European Union (EU), but local grid operator NETC bought out all the available quantities for 2007.
The results of the tender will be announced on November 1 and the supplies will start on January 1, 2008.
CEZ Trade Bulgaria, owned by CEZ Group, said it has a 10% share on the wholesale electricity market in Bulgaria.
CEZ Group has a 42% share in the electricity distribution and 11% of the installed capacities in Bulgaria.
In April 2006, Bulgaria signed a 206 million euro ($249.2 million) deal with Czech CEZ to acquire 100% of the Varna thermal power plant.
The 1,260 MW plant is unable to operate in the energy market with all six generating units because it struck a five-year deal with NETC to operate the plant in the so-called cold reserve. The cold reserve is a power reserve bought out by the transmission system operator in the form of availability of generating units to be used in an emergency.