Belene Nuclear Power Plant

The planned annual overhaul of unit 6 of Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant has been completed and it has been reconnected to the energy grid.

The N-plant unit was recharged with fresh nuclear fuel.

The other 1000-MW unit of the Kozloduy NPP, unit 5, works at full capacity, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Center-right party GERB and the left-wing ABV Movement have reached agreement on most of the issues on the agenda of the coalition talks.
Sunday's 3.5-hour meeting between GERB, the winner in the early elections on October 5, and the ABV Movement was the last one within the first round of talks on forming a government.

Center-right party GERB, the winner in the early elections on October 5, is holding coalition talks with the left-wing Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV) Movement.
This is the final round of talks within the first round of political consultations on forming a government.

Bulgaria's caretaker Minister of Economy and Energy Vasil Shtonov has argued that the power price hike by 10% as of October 1 is an unavoidable step for the stabilization of the market.

The financial position of Bulgaria's National Electricity Company (NEK) is worsening and its debt already exceeds BGN 3.1 B, caretaker Energy Minister Vasil Shtonov has said.

An energy expert has said that the agreement with US Westinghouse on Kozloduy NPP's unit7 erodes Bulgaria's position in the arbitration case with Atomstroyexport over Belene NPP.

Westinghouse Electric announced on Friday that it had completed a shareholder agreement for an AP1000 unit at the Kozloduy NPP.

US-based company Westinghouse sees big opportunities in Bulgaria, but the government's resignation will delay ongoing projects, CEO Danny Roderick said.

Roderick also told Bulgarian daily Trud the final deal on Unit 7 would be sealed next year.

Bulgaria is the poorest EU member state and the one plagued by the lowest rate of energy security, according to a report of local NGO Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD).

The CSD used data of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy for the 75 largest energy-consuming countries.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has demanded that the South Stream pipeline be excluded from the scope of the EU's Third Energy package.

He told reporters after meeting Bulgarian counterpart Kristian Vigenin that Moscow would also insist that negotiations with Brussels be renewed on the project.

State-owned National Electricity Company (NEK) piled up debt worth BGN 2.9 B (EUR 1.45 B) in 2010-2014, energy watchdog DKEVR's chief Boyan Boev said Thursday.

Some BGN 1.5 B of the sum are unrefunded costs related to "public electricity supplies," Boev was quoted by website Dnevnik.bg as declaring at a session of DKEVR.