PODGORICA (Montenegro), September 30 (SeeNews) – Montenegro's power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) said it has signed a 324.5 million euro ($362.6 million) contract with Czech company Skoda Praha for the construction of a second unit of thermal power plant Pljevlja.
After two years of intense negotiations, the companies have signed a deal for the construction of Montenegro's first big energy facility in 35 years, EPCG said in a statement on Thursday.
Having completed this step, EPCG and Skoda Praha have accelerated the process towards launching construction. The next step is to draft a detailed procurement plan and to obtain all of the necessary permits.
Earlier this month, EPCG shareholders adopted a feasibility study which foresees the construction of a 254 MW facility with net electric efficiency of 39.5%.
In May last year, EPCG said that Skoda Praha had filed the most favourable bid for the construction of the unit.
The Montenegrin government is the majority owner of EPCG with a 57% stake. Italian company A2A owns 41.75%. The government and A2A signed a new shareholders agreement last month to extend the joint management of EPCG until December 31, 2016.
EPCG, which operates around 870 MW of installed capacity, plans a 5.8% decline in output to 2,976 GWh this year. The company's net profit dropped 69% to 10.8 million euro in 2015.
($=0.894731 euro)