September 18 (SeeNews) - Italian energy group Enel is willing to invest some 1.0 billion euro ($1.387 billion) in the construction of a new thermal power plant (TPP) in its coal-fired power complex Maritsa East 3 in Bulgaria, a company official said on Tuesday.
“The design project for the 765 megawatts thermal power plant in Maritsa East 3 is fully completed,” a company official who declined to be named told SeeNews.
The state is yet to decide whether to award the project to Enel, which is the majority owner of Maritsa East 3, or to launch a tender for the construction works. A special committee, which will include representatives of the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC), the energy ministry and Maritsa East 3 complex, is to be set up by the end of September to decide on the issue.
Enel owns 73% of Maritsa East 3 and Bulgaria's power grid operator NETC holds the remaining 27%.
Apart from Enel, U.S. AES, German RWE and German E.ON, as well as Bulgarian Brikel, have also shown interest in building the TPP in Maritsa East 3.
If Enel gets a green light for the project, it said it would start the construction works immediately and plans to complete the project by 2012.
Italy's former electricity monopoly, which is banned from expanding at home by anti-trust regulations, is seeking expansion abroad in order to sustain growth. It has bid to become a strategic investor in a project for the construction of a second nuclear plant in Bulgaria.