October 17 (SeeNews) - Czech power utility CEZ said on Wednesday it filed an indicative bid to become strategic investor in a 2,000-megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant project in Bulgaria.
"Today the CEZ Power Company sent in an indicative offer in the tendering procedure for the strategic partner in construction and operation of the nuclear power plant being prepared in Belene," the company said in statement. It did not disclose details of the bid.
CEZ was among the six international majors, which Bulgaria invited in July to vie for acquiring up to 49% of the company that will build and operate the Belene nuclear power plant. The remaining 51% will remain with Bulgarian state-owned power grid operator NETC.
The other five companies are French EDF, German E.ON, Belgium Electrabel, Italian Enel and German RWE. The invited companies faced a 0930 GMT deadline on October 17 to place their bids.
Last year NETC awarded a 3.99 billion euro ($5.7 billion) deal to Russia's Atomstroyexport to build the power plant at the town of Belene, on the Danube River. The first of the future plant's two reactors of 1,000-MW each should go online by January 2014.
Bulgaria hopes that the Belene plant will make up for the generating capacity and power exports it lost after closing down a second pair of Soviet-built reactors of 440 MW each at its existing Kozloduy nuclear power plant at the end of 2006. The country closed the first pair of 440-MW reactors at Kozloduy in 2002 under pressure from the European Union. Now Kozloduy operates its two remaining nuclear reactors of 1,000 MW each.