Poland's PGE Drops Lithuanian Nuclear Project

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Poland's state-owned Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA (PGE) (Warsaw, Poland) has withdrawn from a proposed nuclear project in Lithuania in order to focus on its country's return to nuclear power.

The energy company has confirmed that it will no longer be involved with the construction of a nuclear power plant at Visaginas and said that it has also withdrawn from negotiations for the purchase of electricity from Kaliningrad, across the border in Russia.

"Taking into consideration the current conditions, which at this stage have appeared to be unacceptable for PGE, and also the PGE Group's other key projects, we have decided to suspend our participation in the project before assuming any formal obligations", said Tomasz Zadroga, Management Board President of PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA.

It has also suspended talks with Russian company, Inter-RAO OAO (MCX:IRAO) (Sochi, Russia), concerning the possibility of purchasing electricity from Kaliningrad.

PGE was one of the founding members of Visaginas Atomic Energy (Vilnius, Lithuania), along with power companies from Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, and its departure may have a negative impact of the already troubled attempts to build the Visaginas nuclear power plant.

The new plant is intended to replace the Ignalina nuclear power plant, which was shut down in 2009 as part of the country's conditions for entering the European Union (E.U.). However, after losing its final bidders in 2010, the project looked dead in the water until this summer when Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (Monroeville, Pennsylvania) and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Limited (Hitachi, Japan) submitted separate bids. For additional information see June 6, 2011, article - Lithuania's Nuclear Hopes Revived.

PGE will now focus on steering Poland's return to nuclear power, which received parliamentary support in July this year. Poland scrapped its first nuclear power plans after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia, which occurred more than 25 years ago on April 26, 1986. Last week, PGE announced three possible sites, Choczewo, Gaski and Zarnowiec, for the construction of the first Polish nuclear power plant. For additional information see December 6, 2011, article - PGE Shortlists Three Sites for Poland's First Nuclear Power Plant.

View Plant Profile - 1083142

View Project Report - 300027133 80500028

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.