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Czech Senate drafts law banning shale gas extraction

Brian Kenety — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:34:47 +0000

Members of the upper house of the parliament have drafted legislation that would ban shale gas extraction in the Czech Republic using hydraulic fracturing, said one of its authors, Petr Pakosta of the center-right Civic Democrats (ODS).

Earlier, the center-right coalition goverment had put forth a number of ammendents with the same aim – drafting a new law was seen as a simpler short cut, the news sever Novinky.cz reported Friday.

Co-sponsors of the legislation included senators Jiří Oberfalzer (ODS) of Beroun and Pavel Trpák (Social Democrats, ČSSD) of Trutnov, whose districts had been earmarked for exploratory mining of shale gas — natural gas trapped in rock rather than porous reservoirs.

BasGas Energia Czech, a subsidiary of Australia-based Hutton Energy, had applied for a license to conduct exploration work over an area of nearly 800 square kilometers in the districts of Náchod, Broumlov, and Trutnov in northeast Bohemia. Náchod mayor Jan Birke (ČSSD) and Králové hradec regional governor Lubomír Franc (ČSSD) have pushed for fast-track approval of the law.

In the wake of protests from locals, Environment Minister Tomáš Chalupa (ODS) this April cancelled the provisional exploration license. BasGas Energia Czech can reapply but must “sufficiently take into account the basic public interest, which is the protection of waters, nature and the landscape,” the minister said at the time.

Chalupa, speaking before a Senate hearing on Friday, reiterated that the government has since proposed a two-year moratorium on exploration of shale gas deposits due to concerns over ecological risks, such as the contamination of drinking water.

Opponents to shale gas extraction in the region claim mining the unconventional gas damages the environment and poses a real threat of contamination to underground water tables; France and Bulgaria have banned it.

Czech Constitutional Court backs state over solar clampdown

Chris Johnstone — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:17:43 +0000

The Czech Constitutional Court has ruled that the government was fully within its rights to slap a retroactive tax on solar power plant investors to curb a solar boom in the country.

The country’s highest court delivered its ruling Wednesday after being asked by a group of members of the upper house, the Senate, concerned that the retrospective action could set a dangerous precedent regarding property and investment rights. They were also concerned that the hurried step had been taken by the government by means of fast-track emergency legislation.

The main feature of the retrospective government step to put a brake on the costly solar boom was a 26 percent tax on profits from solar plants which were connected to the overall power network in 2009 and 2010.

The court ruling argued that the government was fully within its rights to act in what it regarded as the public interest in an attempt to limit public costs and to react to the changed circumstances of the solar sector. It added that a 15-year guarantee that the initial investment costs of solar power investments would be recouped still applied albeit with the retroactive tax cutting returns sooner than the investors might have expected.

‘The principle of legal certainty is not possible to confound with the absolute impossibility of legal amendments.’

“The principle of legal certainty is not possible to confound with the absolute impossibility of legal amendments, that, among other things, depends on socio-economic changes and demands in line with regard to the stability of the state budget,” the court said in a news release.

It added that the effects of the government’s blanked action could nonetheless have had a serious impact on some solar investors, such as small producers who had taken out high interest bank loans on the basis of a planned fast return on the investment.

The boom was party sparked by a sharp fall in the price of solar panels while long-term guaranteed Czech prices for solar-produced power remained at previous high levels. This produced a stampede to set up solar power plants in the country before the government belatedly began to count the cost of the investment fever on electricity users and the government as it tried to cushion the effects on consumers.

The hurried and haphazard Czech move to counter the boom was widely criticized in comparison with the systematic steps in other European countries to ease up renewable incentives once they seemed to be having an effect.

The court decision will not have any impact on arbitration proceedings which a group of foreign solar power investors are planning to launch against the Czech government in six or seven weeks related to its hurried clampdown on solar incentives.

Foreign investors in Czech solar plants to sue state over retro tax

Brian Kenety — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:18:17 +0000

Ever since the Czech government pushed through a retroactive 26 percent tax on solar companies’ profits at the end of 2010 to stem an ongoing solar power boom the threat of a massive law suit has loomed large. Now, 11 foreign investors, all members of the International Photovoltaic Investors Club (IPVIC), have told the Ministry of Finance that within six to eight weeks they will file a lawsuit against the Czech state.

“The grace periods are over for all of the claimants,” Frank Schulte, the IPVIC’s secretary general, said in a statement this week that said the “unfair” 26 percent special levy had inflicted “severe financial damage” against the foreign investors, though it didn’t stipulate a figure.

“Through recent statements by government officials and the quasi-independent ERÚ [Energy Regulatory Office] it has also become obvious that the Czech state, contrary to international trends, intends to further hamper the operation and development of both existing and new solar installations,” Schulte said, referring to ERÚ chairwoman Alena Vitásková’s aim to halt renewable energy support from 2014. ‘[It] has also become obvious that the Czech state, contrary to international trends, intends to further hamper the operation and development of both existing and new solar installations.’

Vitásková told reporters April 25 that, as the Czech Republic should already fulfill its pledge to the European Union to produce 13.5 percent of its overall electricity needs from renewable by 2013 (well ahead of the 2020 deadline), the state should scrap all support for new renewable power from the following year onwards.

Speaking of the potential impact solar installations, Schulte said the Czech state appears set to press on “regardless of severe damages caused to individuals and companies who committed significant financial means into projects fully corresponding with Czech legislation valid at the time of bona fide investments.”

The power plants of the international investors entering into arbitration against the Czech state have a combined installed capacity of 80 MWp. The precise amount of damages for the arbitration proceedings will be calculated by an independent valuation expert, the association said, with claims based on bilateral treaties on investment protection.

As Czech Position reported last June, a report prepared by the Finance Ministry, which will fight the Czech corner in the wave of arbitrations that are believed to be pending, highlights the warnings of one solar power grouping that total damages that the Czech Photovoltaic Industry Association (CZEPHO) estimated could cost the state Kč 250 billion — and which an August 2010 study by the University of Economics in Prague (VŠE) put at a staggering Kč 560 billion.

Radek Šnábl, an adviser to Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09), began looking to assemble a “dream team” of expert arbitration lawyers around the world to defend the Czech Republic more than a year ago. At the time, he told Czech Position that names on his wish list included Zachary Douglas, an accomplished expert on arbitration at the University of Cambridge and his colleague James Crawford, a lecturer there; Stephen Anway, an arbitration specialist from the US firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, who works in Cleveland and New York, and his colleague David Alexander, based in a branch in Ohio; and Karolína Horáková from the Prague office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

IPVIC has appointed the law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and Glatzova & Co. to represent them in the legal aspects of their discussions with the Czech state.

The government and Parliament originally sought to attract investors into the solar energy sector with generous incentives in line with European legislation. Later, when the policy attracted too many investors, both big and small, politicians moved to stop the solar boom.

IPVIC is an association of international and domestic investors in photovoltaic energy. The membership consists among others of Czech-based Ren Power, German private investor Milos Schubert, German Voltaic Network GmbH and Antaris Solar, Luxembourg-based company Radiance Energy Holding and I.C.W. Europe Investments Ltd. from the UK. The installed capacity of their solar projects is 115 MWp.

ČEZ to weigh up partner for Temelín expansion

Chris Johnstone — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:15:44 +0000

Czech electricity company ČEZ says it is investigating whether a strategic partner can be found to help it build two new nuclear reactors at its existing Temelín site.

“Energy company ČEZ within the framework of its preparations for the completion of the Temelín nuclear power plant is checking out the possibility of the entry of a strategic partner,” the near 70 percent state-owned company announced on Wednesday.

“The building and following operation of nuclear projects by a consortium of several companies is quite common in Europe, the large French company EdF is constructing the Flamanville [plant] together with ENEL,” it added in reference to French and Italian electricity giants.

ČEZ said it had been sounded out by possible partners and if a partnership appears to be the logical step to take will select an eventual partner through a transparent tender. The partner would be brought on board following the signature of a deal with one three major nuclear power plant construction groups in the running to land the Temelín contract, it added.

A decision on whether France’s Areva, US-based Westinghouse or a consortium of Russia’s Atomstrojexport and Czech engineering company Škoda JS win the estimated Kč 150 billion–Kč 200 billion tender should be decided by the end of 2013.

ČEZ has said that it could finance the expansion of Temelín from its own resources and with the help of bank loans — but has admitted that this would be a squeeze and that other inviting investment opportunities would have to be sacrificed as a result. With a partner on board these could be followed up as well, company CEO Daniel Beneš said.

“Another motivating factor is the possible sharing out of the construction risk and the profits from the project among several subjects. Most nuclear projects in Europe (France, Finland and Britain) are precisely for this reason realized at the current time on the basis of different types of partnership,” he added.

ČEZ said that initial analysis suggested that around more than 10 energy companies, mostly European, could be sounded out about their willingness to take part in such a partnership. The company did not signal what sort of stake in the Temelín project could be offered to a new partner or partners.

French bidder for Temelín upbeat on prospects

Chris Johnstone — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:18:44 +0000

French state nuclear construction company Areva says it is upbeat about the prospects of the Temelín nuclear expansion proceeding and its likelihood of winning the estimated Kč 150 billion – Kč 200 billion contract in spite of recent uncertainties about whether contractor ČEZ can see the extra capacity making a profit.

“I am very confident that the tender will proceed and that Areva will win,” company regional director Thomas Epron told Czech Position with less than two months remaining before final bids are made by the French state company — and rivals US-based Westinghouse and a joint venture of Škoda JS and Russia’s Atomstrojexport — to land the massive contract.

The confidence an eventual winner being announced at the end of the tender comes in the face of ČEZ admissions that low and uncertain electricity prices carbon allowances, which favor nuclear power against more polluting coal-fired electricity production, makes the business plan for two new Temelín reactors uncertain. Top managers with the state-controlled company have also said that it will be a squeeze financing the two new nuclear reactors and also proceeding with other projects.

“There is a real need for new production capacity because of the reduction of current plants and for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and I think that nuclear and renewables have a major role to do this in Europe,” Epron said referring to ČEZ’ plans to phase out a large part of its current brown coal plants.

He says Areva’s chances of landing the contract are better than its rivals because of its better technology and safety record and its log book of nuclear power plant projects up and running or being constructed on the continent. ‘Areva walks the walk on this.’

Discussion over the likelihood of Czech companies winning a large share of the work on Temelín’s also surfaced last week. One of the members of the government’s economic think tank, NERV, Vladimír Dlouhý, warned that local companies could end up with a relatively insignificant slice of the work in spite of promises from all three bidders that around 70 percent of the value of the contract would be placed with local companies, according to the business daily E15.

Epron says that there is no way to give any firm guarantee on “local content” under the current tender conditions and that Areva and its rivals should be judged on their record of sourcing work to local companies. “Areva walks the walk on this,” he said, adding that wherever the company won contacts for new nuclear reactor around 70 percent of the value of the contract was placed with local firms.

At the moment 30-35 Czech companies are in the process of having been or are being certified to provide work on Areva’s nuclear contracts worldwide, he added. Competition would cover much of the work to carry out the Temelín contract with the Czech Republic having a solid industrial and cheap industrial base which would favor its companies.

‘They [the Russian] must probably buy what they cannot win.’

Reacting to the the Russian offer to provide full financing for the project, Epron said, “They must probably buy what they cannot win.” The offer by Rusatom Overseas, the foreign marketing arm of Russian state nuclear construction company Rosatom means that the Russian joint venture is the sole one where a bidder has pledged to finance as well as build the reactors. Both Areva and Westinghouse have insisted they are primarily nuclear power companies not banks.

Bids submitted by July 3 to ČEZ by the three rivals will outline the companies prices and conditions covering construction of the two reactors. The near 70-percent state-owned power company will then pore over the offers with the possibility to haggle over the conditions and prices outlined. A final decision on the deal should be made by the end of 2013.

Poles mull Net4Gas buy in tandem with Czech-Polish gas pipeline expansion

Brian Kenety — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:21:15 +0000

Gaz-System, the gas transit system operator in Poland, reportedly could make a bid for its counterpart in the Czech Republic, Net4Gas, which together already plan to build a new pipeline between the countries in a bid to further weaken Russian control over the key energy source.

Czech-Polish cooperation on building a new pipeline “would be independent of the future owner of Net4Gas” Jan Chadam of Gaz-System told the Czech daily E15; he also did not rule out that the company could buy directly into Czech pipelines. Hinting at possible broader regional plans, he said the integration of Polish, Czech and Slovak pipelines — with Gaz-System’s participation — would benefit Europe as a whole.

Gaz-System and Net4Gas are already planning a pipeline from Poland to the northern Moravian city of Ostrava that would have a transport capacity of 8 to 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas — twice the capacity of the Stork pipeline now connecting the two countries — and be co-financed by the EU.

That project is in line with EU energy policy wherein the chief goal is to build an internal, integrated energy market by 2015. The free flow of gas between all EU member states will require the development of the transmission infrastructure, above all the cross-border connections of gas networks.

The planned Polish–Czech gas pipeline also constitutes a significant element of the planned North–South Gas Corridor that will connect the LNG terminal currently under construction in Świnoujście by a network of gas pipelines in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary with the Adria LNG terminal in Croatia.

It could open the way for deliveries of Qatari gas to the Czech Republic from the Polish seaside and eventually to shale gas deliveries from Poland, E15 said.

Increasing Stork’s capacity is also a possibility, E15 said, but demand, storage capacity in the Moravia-Silesia region — and not least of all the Czech strategic energy concept — will all be significant factors.

The Ukraine factor

The possible sale of Net4Gas, which is part of the German giant RWE, had been an open secret for months. But recent pronouncements by the Russian gas exporter Gazprom that it wants to avoid all gas shipments to the European Union now going through Ukraine would seriously undermine its value.

Net4Gas’ main asset is the now aging east-west stretch of pipeline running from the south-east to the north-west of the country taking natural gas to western Europe after being shipped through Slovakia and Ukraine.

Czech energy group Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH) and local gas exploration, production and storage group KKCG have both said they would be interested in bidding for Net4Gas.

Gazprom itself might be a logical bidder, and its declaration might be seen as a means of cutting the price for the gas pipeline assets in the Czech Republic and also those in neighboring Slovakia, where a 49-percent stake in the country’s main gas company, SPP, is expected to be sold by a consortium of E.ON Ruhrgas and Gaz de France.

Police make arrests over Czech EU presidency fraud

Tom Jones — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:16:40 +0000

The founder and owner of the firm ProMoPro , Jaroslav Veselý, whose company was was paid hundreds of millions of crowns by the Czech government for providing audio visual equipment and interpreting services, was among individuals connected with the suspected scam who have been arrested and charged by anti-corruption police, according to Czech media reports.

The affair threatens current Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra (Civic Democrat, ODS), the then Minister for European Affairsm who had overall responsibility for EU presidency contracts.

The server E15.cz reported that five people, including Veselý, were arrested late Wednesday. Others included Vlastimil Maxa from the company NWDC, to which over Kč 300 million was transferred by ProMoPro, and Václav Čada, co-owner of the firm Damovo, which rented audiovisual equipment to ProMoPro.

Police spokesman Jaroslav Ibehej on Wednesday said only that arrests had been made in connection with the ProMoPro case, but refused to divulge names or any details about the charges and outcome of the investigation.

The server Euro.cz reported Thursday that in all nine people have been formerly charged in connection with the ProMoPro affair, including Vondra’s former deputy Jana Hendrichová, and former or current Government Office employees Radomír Karlík and David Mlíčko.

The arrests follow a more than year long investigation. Police were initially alerted to suspicious transfers of large amounts money to and from ProMoPro accounts by the Financial Analytic Unit (FAÚ), the Czech Finance Ministry’s anti money laundering and financial crime watchdog. It subsequently emerged that ProMoPro was paid a total of Kč 525 million by the Czech Government Office for conference services during the Czech presidency of the EU in the first six months of 2009.

Later reports said that Kč 378 million was transferred to NWDC, which then supposedly hired the London-registered firm Deeside Service Solutions to provide IT services. Deeside was later renamed Interprod, whose official director is Raymond Christopher Erickson , a resident of Dominica who officially heads another three dozen or so companies.

The money trail eventually led to an anonymous bank account with the Austrian bank Vontobel to which Veselý’s friend and associate Líbor Veverka had access, and Prague-registered firm Kom-Forest CZ, which according to the Czech Company Registered is involved in the forestry sector.

At the beginning of March, the daily Hospodářské noviny (HN) reported that the anticorruption police had completed their investigation and concluded that the services provided by ProMoPro were significantly overpriced and that at least Kč 135 million of public money was embezzled. The daily also said that several employees of the EU affairs department within the Government Office could expect court summons, though it is unclear whether those arrested include any current or former employees of the office.

ProMoPro received the contract o provide audiovisual services without a public tender being held. From Czech media reports of the investigation it emerged that the company effectively had carte blanche to invoice the Government Office for “additional services” above the originally agreed costs for services.

The ProMoPro scandal has almost cost current Minister of Defense Alexandr Vondra (Civic Democrats, ODS) his career. Although, according to sources in the prosecution service, he is not suspected of knowing about the alleged embezzlement scam, Vondra as the deputy prime minister in charge of EU affairs at the time headed the Government Office’s EU affairs department thus was ultimately responsible for its spending. Thus even if not under direct suspicion, Vondra’s abilities as a ministerial manager have and will again be questioned and scrutinized as the case returns to the forefront of media attention.

Russian-Czech Temelín JV signs up more potential suppliers

Chris Johnstone — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:11:12 +0000

The Russian-Czech joint venture seeking to land the contract to build two new nuclear reactors in the Czech Republic is to sign cooperation agreements with 10 Czech and Slovak companies it sees as potential suppliers.

Rosatom, the mother company of Atomstrojexport, and Czech-based nuclear engineering company ŠKODA JS say the memoranda of understanding will pave the way for the companies to take part in the expansion of the Czech Temelín nuclear power plant and other Russian-led nuclear power plant projects worldwide.

Atomstrojexport and ŠKODA JS are pitted against US-based Westinghouse and France’s Areva for the estimated Kč 150 billion – 200 billion tender to build two new reactors at Czech state-controlled power company ČEZ’s South Bohemian site.

ČEZ has set a July 2 deadline for bids for the massive tender to be handed in with a decision on whether to go ahead with construction and which of the companies to choose as winner being made by the end of 2013.

The Russian-Czech partnership already signed similar contracts with 15 Czech machinery and construction companies in October last year.

The latest signing ceremony to take place on March 20 marks a further flurry in the fight between the three companies to curry favor with Czech power company and its state bosses. French nuclear construction company Areva announced that it had certified a further 14 Czech companies as possible suppliers at the start of the month, adding that further deals were in the pipeline and would continue to be announced up to the end of 2013.

Two months earlier, Westinghouse signed an exclusive deal for Czech construction giant Metrostav to be its exclusive partner for most of the basic building work for the Temelín contract if it landed the deal.

The Temelín tender sets down no criteria or targets for the amount of work to be handed out to local companies but the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade has spelled out that it will be looking for as much work and orders to be sourced locally. That message can be expected to be clearly transmitted to and understood by ČEZ.

Germans and Austrians protest against Temelín on Fukushima anniversary

Tom Jones — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:57:34 +0000

Anti-nuclear protestors gathered in Mitterteich, Bavaria, on Sunday — the first anniversary of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan — to voice their opposition to nuclear power in general, and specifically against expanding the Temelín power plant in South Bohemia, where the Czech state-controlled power major ČEZ intends to construct two new reactor blocks by 2025.

Dieter Janecek, the leader of the German Green Party in Bavaria, which organized the protest, said residents in Bavaria and Austria should be consulted before any such plans go ahead. “We want for the citizens of Bavaria and Austria to be heard. We don’t want new reactors to be built at Temelín,” he told Cezch public radio (Český rozhlas).

They staged the demonstration close to the Czech border (Mitterteich is some 17 kilometers from the Czech town of Cheb, western Bohemia) in order to draw attention to regional opposition in Bavaria to nuclear power. “We’re protesting against nuclear energy and against Temelín in particular because it’s a short distance from our border,” one protestor told the radio station.

Around 500 people attended Sunday’s protest in Mitterteich. The organizers said they expected more, but cold weather and rain had apparently kept many away. Nevertheless, Janecek said the Bavarian Greens were planning more protests against Temelín, which lies less than 100 kilometers east of the Bavarian border, including one at the plant itself this September.

‘Memorial’ for Fukushima

Also on Sunday, more than a dozen Austrian anti-nuclear activists gathered at the Czech nuclear plant. “The state of Lower and its inhabitants are endangered by the operation of the Temelín plant,” Roland Egger, leader of the Atomstopp movement, which organized the demonstration, told the daily Mladá fronta dnes.

Atomstopp had called on South Bohemia regional governor Jiří Zimola (Social Democrats, ČSSD) to attend the “memorial” gathering. Zimola, however, refused. “It appears the event is more than a genuine memorial for the Fukushima tragedy honored by the representation of the anti-nuclear lobby; therefore, I cannot accept the invitation,” he told reporters.

Egger said in response to Zimola’s statement: “We don’t understand this stance it was simply a memorial to last year’s tragedy.”

Following the Fukushima tragedy, Germany undertook to phase out nuclear power and decommission all its nuclear plants by 2022. The Czech Republic, along with France, Britain, Sweden and Finland, have declared that they will continue to harness nuclear and press on with plans for the construction of new facilities, in the case of the Czech Republic the construction of the two new reactor blocks at Temelín.

Recently, however, doubts have been raised about the economic viability of the planned Temelín expansion.

See related article: Czech PM offers Germany public debate over nuke plant

US ambassador confident Temelín nuclear extension will go ahead

Tom Jones — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:10:51 +0000

US Ambassador to the Czech Republic Norman Eisen has said he expects the expansion of the Temelín nuclear power plant to go ahead as planned despite recent comments by officials from the Czech government and state-controlled power producer ČEZ that it may be cancelled or no winner chosen in the tender.

“I believe the tender will continue and that Temelín will be expanded. I don’t want to speculate about a possibility which in my opinion won’t happen,” he was cited as saying by the server aktualne.cz on Thursday.

Eisen was reacting to doubts raised about the viability of expanding the country’s second nuclear power facility to include a third and fourth reactor. The project is expected to cost between Kč 150 billion and Kč 200 billion. ‘It would be a mistake to say that we’ll expand Temelín at any cost. There are definitely boundaries beyond which the expansion of Temelín would not be economically justifiable.’

The Czech government’s point man for the Temelín tender, Václav Bartuška, told aktualne.cz the expansion of Temelín is by no means guaranteed; he put the odds of the project being scrapped at one in three — while stressing he believed it had merit.

“I believe the Temelín expansion makes sense. But it would be a mistake to say that we’ll expand Temelín at any cost. There are definitely boundaries beyond which the expansion of Temelín would not be economically justifiable,” Bartuška told the server. The daily Lidové noviny on March 3 cited an unnamed source in ČEZ management as also saying there was a 33 percent chance the expansion would not go ahead.

Scrapped, or delayed?

The three bidders in the project — Japanese-owned US firm Westinghouse, Areva of France, and Rosatom of Russia — must submit their offers by July 2. Several Czech commentators have said that cancellation of the Temelín expansion tender would, to put it mildly, land the Czech Republic in an awkward diplomatic situation.

Ambassador Eisen appears confident that the tender will be held — in part because planning is too far along.

“All of the participants have stated that the tender is continuing. ČEZ, like the Czech government, has invested a huge amount of money just to reach the current stage. I also think that the energy climate is such that this source of energy is necessary,” Eisen, who has said among his main whose primary tasks during his Prague posting is to promote Westinghouse’s bid, told aktualne.cz. ‘I also think that the energy climate is such that this source of energy is necessary.’

Meanwhile, there is talk that the Temelín expansion project could be delayed considerably, primarily due to teething problems that all three bidders have been experiencing with their new generation reactors. The Czech side has stipulated that bidders must have at least one of their new generation reactors operating in order to stand a chance of winning the contract.

As for the project’s viability, Areva’s representative has said the project doesn’t depend on current electricity prices. Thomas Epron, the company’s director of business development in the CEE region, said project financing cannot be based upon current low electricity prices and market forces alone.

“It’s a public tender, and such an important project demands long-term decisions that are not based on the current price of electricity. This choice is based upon a strategic vision with a long-term perspective,” Epon told aktualne.cz, adding that he is sure the tender will continue according to plan.

Eyeing co-financing options

ČEZ has insisted it has the capital and cash flow to finance the project itself. But the 70-percent state-owned company has commissioned the French bank BNP Paribas to seek out potential energy partners for co-financing. And the Central European energy giant now admits it is looking at all the alternatives in order to lower the exposure to risk of the Czech state and its other shareholders.

A ČEZ manger, who chose to remain anonymous, told Czech Position that the Prague- and Warsaw-listed company is now looking closely at a new financing model in the UK for the construction of new nuclear power plants there, which might prove to be a formula for Czech state support of the project.