About 30 companies, including a dozen serious and respectable partners, have so far expressed their interest in building Block C of the Plomin thermal power plant, the chief executive of the Croatian power company HEP, Zlatko Koracevic, said at a press conference on Thursday after meeting with the local authorities in Istria County.
On July 24 HEP issued a call for expression of interest in financing, designing, building, managing and maintaining the future 500 MW coal-powered power plant. Prospective partners are required to meet the highest standards in terms of environmental protection. The tender is open until September 14.
Koracevic said that a strategic partner for Plomin C was expected to be chosen by the end of the first quarter of 2013.
"Worth 800 million euros, Plomin C is our biggest investment in 50 years. It is also the first in a series of investments in energy facilities that HEP plans to launch in the coming period, which are worth about two billion euros," Koracevic said.
He said that with the construction of this thermal power plant HEP would contribute to the development of this area and would also reduce Croatia's electricity imports to eight per cent. Air pollution emissions would be reduced to the lowest possible levels by using high-quality low-sulphur coal and building a smoke gas desulphurisation plant.
The air around the Plomin power plant will continue to be of top quality, because Plomin 2 and Plomin C will together emit even less pollution, reducing sulphur levels by 54 per cent, nitrogen levels by 25 per cent and particle levels by 13 per cent, Koracevic said.
"HEP is part of this local community and wishes to make its own contribution to the development and improvement of living standards. That is our human, political and business obligation, while an absence of communication, as has been the case so far, opens up a space for politicking and unfounded statements," Koracevic said.
The Mayor of Labin, Tulio Demetlika, said he did not agree with coal being used to produce energy, but that he was confident that common ground would be found for the completion of the project, taking into account the present situation in the country and its need for fresh investment, the findings of the environmental impact study, and HEP's good intentions.
Block C of the Plomin power plant will be the biggest power plant ever built in Croatia, with a planned annual production capacity of 3.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is expected to cover 17.5 per cent of Croatian electricity consumption.
