NEK

Krško – The Krško Nuclear Power Station (NEK) started building a long-planned dry cask storage on 1 March as part of its security upgrade. The construction of the storage is under way despite the scheduled one-month maintenance that started on Thursday. The project is to be concluded next year, said NEK CEO Stane Rožman.

Krško – The Krško Nuclear Power Station (NEK) was shut down as a precaution on Tuesday after a powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit near the town of Petrinja, Croatia, shortly after midday. Such a shutdown is standard procedure in the event of a strong earthquake, NEK told the STA. NEK is located some 80 kilometres north-west of Petrinja.

Bulgarian pumped-storage hydropower plant (HPP) Chaira has extended the unplanned outage of one of its units by three days to August 23, the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) said on Tuesday, reports Renewables Now.

HPP Chaira shut down one of its units on August 10 for unplanned restoration works, which was expected to resume operations on August 20, IBEX data shows.

At an extraordinary press conference, the released NEK CEO Petar Iliev warned that the price of electricity on the free exchange threatens national security.

''I want to make it clear once again: there is currently unplanned repair of Tsankov Kamak dam's geomembrane, at the expense of national power company NEK. The repair costs BGN 80,000'', Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova told journalists in Yambol, аccording to Standart News.

''Tsankov Kamak'' project is economically unprofitable - it will never return its investment of BGN 1 billion.'' This is what the MP from GERB Aleksandar Nenkov announced in the show "This morning"on bTV. 

MPs from GERB yesterday submitted information to the Prosecutor's Office for an enquiry into the project, including data about its financing.

The Parliament approved at first reading changes to the energy law introducing clear criteria in the use of thermal energy for agriculture, FOCUS News Agency reported.

The bill was backed by 91 MPs, 6 voted against, while 60 abstained.

EVN AG has informed all stakeholders the project for the realization of the Hydro Power Cascade is put on hold.

In a statement, EVN says the announcement comes "in relation to its legal obligations as a Vienna Stock Exchange listed company."

This is reported in the financial report of EVN AG for the first quarter of 2016/17.

Czech-based holding CEZ said late in January it considered withdrawing from the Bulgarian market.

CEZ holds the biggest power supply business in Bulgaria (providing electricity to more than 3 million customers), with revenues to the tune of BGN 1.4 B, the biggest electricity distribution company, several hydropower plants, and a now defunct thermal power plant.

The National Electric Company (NEK EAD) might have a total profit around BGN 12.2M by the end of 2016, according to the outgoing Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova, cited by BGNES.