Czech CEZ Says Wraps Up Planned Annual Repairs at Bulgaria's Varna Thermal Power Plant

"The plant, which produced two million megawatthours of power between January and October, is currently in very good condition and completely ready to meet the country's needs in shoring up the energy balance over the coming winter season," the Chairman of the power plant's Managing Board, Jan Vavera, said in a statement.

The company provided no comparative figures.

The repairs were completed in November, the company said but did not elaborate on their duration.

All the generation units of the 1,260-megawatt (MW) Varna power plant run on imported coal. The plant currently has 550,000 tonnes of coal stocks, enough to meet demand during the winter. It has also arranged coal deliveries from Russia and Ukraine for the 2009/2010 winter season.

Three of the plant's units operate as a reserve power capacity under a deal with the country's power grid operator NEK to be activated in cases of major imbalances.

CEZ, which also supplies electricity to 1.9 million end-users in western Bulgaria, plans to build an 880 MW generation unit worth up to 800 million euro ($1.207 billion) at the Varna plant.