HEP denied the statement by the head of the Eko Kvarner environmental organisation, Vjeran Pirsic, that only one company had submitted a binding offer for Plomin C because it was not possible to achieve efficacy with the technology stipulated in the tender.

Pirsic made the statement after the government last week dismissed the request by Eko Kvarner and Labin Art Express XXI for an advisory referendum in the counties of Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar on the construction of Plomin C. The request was backed by 2,624 signatures of local residents.

HEP recalled in its statement that in late April it had submitted the necessary documentation to qualified bidders for the submission of binding offers in the process of selection of a strategic partner for the construction and management of Plomin C. The companies in question are Italy's Edison, KOSEP of South Korea and Japan's Marubeni.

HEP said that the selection process was being conducted in conformity with the EU directive on public procurement and that the offers would be evaluated on the basis of the set technical and economic criteria.

As regards the selected technology, HEP said that all relevant pure coal technologies had been considered and the coal dust technology had been chosen because of a high level of energy activity, commercial availability and the reliability of the existing facilities of the same kind. "Therefore, with the technology foreseen in the tender documentation it is possible to achieve required efficacy as shown by equipment manufacturers and investors in many power plants that have been put in operation in recent years," the company said.

The value of investment in Plomin C, which would use coal as fuel, is about EUR 800 million. Its installed power would be 500 MW and it would replace the existing 125 MW block Plomin 1.