After it was announced that the country is temporarily suspending investments in Bulgaria’s Belene Nuclear Power Plant and will start focusing on a gas power plant in Greece’s Alexandroupolis, the Power Plants of North Macedonia (ESM) has further elaborated on the move.
When asked for a comment, ESM told MIA on Tuesday that the Greek gas terminal has better chances to be completed sooner than the Bulgarian nuclear power plant.
“Regarding Belene, Bulgaria has several times announced it would start construction, however so far it isn’t likely it will start very soon. That’s why we are focusing on other projects, namely the LNG terminal in the Greek city of Alexandroupolis. We consider it having more perspectives with chances to be completed within a reasonable period. It’s important to us to provide stable energy supply from several sources and to improve the performances of our company, preferably in the foreseeable future,” said ESM in the statement to MIA.
The government has set up working groups tasked with coordinating involving the country’s future investment in Greece.
On Monday, Vasko Kovachevski, General Manager of Power Plants of North Macedonia (ESM), said at the Macedonian Energy Forum 2020 the country is temporarily halting investments in Bulgaria’s Belene.
The LNG Terminal in Alexandroupolis is planned as a 800MW power plant, of which 25 percent would be owned by North Macedonia, namely 200MW. This is expected to significantly improve ESM’s performances with regards to stable electricity output.
Acting on government’s guidelines, ESM in August 2019 sent a letter of intentions to Bulgaria to invest in Belene.
