Bulgaria looking for investor for construction of nuclear power plant – Is Serbia interested?

Bulgaria has started looking for an investor for the construction of the nuclear power plant Belene, the Novinite agency reports, and some allegations say that Serbia and North Macedonia are interested in having a share in this power plant.

In the Official Journal of the European Union, Bulgaria announced that she was looking for a strategic partner for the project of the construction of the Belene power plant, and applications can be made within the next 90 days.

A strategic investor should be selected within a year, the agency reports.

This March, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev stated for the Trud daily that Serbia and North Macedonia wanted in on the project.

He also stated that “there is no way that the Belene nuclear power plant will be built without the participation of Russia’s Rosatom”.

He stated this on March 6, only two days after Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited Bulgaria to discuss energy topics with his colleague Boyko Borisov, confirming that Russia was ready to take part in the Belene project.

The idea of Serbia taking part in the project is very old – back in 2011, the then energy minister, Petar Skundric, advocated participation in the project, as it would allegedly provide Serbia with cheaper energy.

On the other hand, estimates of the total costs of the construction of the Belene power plant went up to seven billion, and certain experts warned that the participation in the project would be too expensive for Serbia.

NPP Belene

Belene

construction of a nuclear power plant

Dmitry Medvedev

Boyko Borisov

Tomislav Donchev

Petar Škundrić

cheaper elecricity