September 12 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant (NPP) Kolzoduy said that its net profit fell to some 307 million levs ($168.1 million/156.96 million euro) in the first half of 2023 from 1.7 billion levs a year earlier, as the price of electricity it sold on all of its markets halved.
Kozloduy NPP's revenue from electricity sales declined to 1.3 billion levs in January-June from 2.7 billion levs in the like period of 2022, the company said in an interim financial statement last week.
In the first six months of the year, the nuclear power plant's two units of 1000 MW each generated 8,064,824 MWh of electricity, down 4% year-on-year, due to a longer outage downtime at Unit 5 and an unplanned shutdown of Unit 6 in April for preventive maintenance.
Kozloduy sold 7,676,546 MWh of net power output to the national grid, with about 34% of that going to public supplier National Electricity Company (NEK) at regulated prices. Other remaining quantities were sold on the organised market run by the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) and on the balancing market.
First-half sales at unregulated prices, including those on the organised market run by the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) and on the balancing market, totalled 5,077,679 MWh.
The average sales price of the electricity generated by Kozloduy NPP and sold on all of its markets stood at 163.86 levs per MWh in the first six months of 2023, or 51% less than in the same period of 2022.
NPP Kozloduy's expenses rose 12% on the year as at end-June, reaching 932.3 million levs. The increase was driven by 293.6 million levs earmarked for contribution to the state energy security fund and representing a third of total expenses. Overall, however, expenses for statutory funds significantly declined in the first half from last year's level as they were payable at 15.5% of the company's revenue from electricity sales, Kozloduy said.
Planned investment costs for reconstruction and upgrade of facilities amount to 887 million levs for the period 2023-2027, with 70% allocated to enhancing safety and improving the operations and equipment of facilities, according to the financial statement.
Kozloduy NPP which has until now relied solely on Russian nuclear fuel, sought approval from the Bulgaria's nuclear energy regulator in July to start using of a new type of fuel, to be delivered under a contract with US company Westinghouse Electric.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
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