BELGRADE (Serbia), December 8 (SeeNews) – Serbia’s state-owned power utility EPS said 15 international firms have expressed interest in becoming a strategic partner in the construction of a gas-fired co-generation unit at its power plant in the city of Novi Sad.
The new unit will have an installed capacity for the production of 400-500 megawatts of electricity and 300 megawatts of heating energy for the needs of more than 80,000 households and commercial users in the northern Serbian city.
EPS said on its website on Monday companies from Slovakia, Italy, Russia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Great Britain, Austria, China, Canada and Serbia have sent letters of interest by the December 1 deadline.
It added the selection of a strategic partner is planned to be completed in the first half of 2010.
The project is managed by Energija Novi Sad (ENS), a 50/50 joint venture company of EPS and the city of Novi Sad. The future strategic investor is expected to obtain a majority stake in ENS by raising the company's capital, EPS has said.
At present, the co-generation power plant in Novi Sad has two units with a combined capacity of 208 megawatts.