VILNIUS - Energy company executives from the three Baltic countries and Poland took a step forward and agreed at a July 25 meeting in Copenhagen to establish a joint venture company to pursue development of a new nuclear power plant to replace the existing Ignalina plant scheduled to close next year.
Leo LT, Lithuania's national investment company, will formally set up the new joint venture vehicle and will hold a 51 percent stake; the remaining three partners will each hold a 16.33 percent stake. The company should be registered by Sept. 1.
This joint venture company will be responsible for evaluation, planning and design of the new power plant.
"Today's negotiations were truly successful. We agreed on the major issues with our future partners," Leo LT chairman and CEO Rymantas Juozaitis said after the meeting.
"We would like to stress that this will be for the distribution of shares in the project development company. Later on we will establish a project implementation company, the stakes in which will be known after completion of arrangements, determination of plant capacity, selection of technologies and cost estimation," Juozaitis said.
The project implementation company will manage the actual construction of the new plant. Upon completion, the partners are then to establish a joint venture to operate the new plant.
Leo LT expects to own a 34 percent interest in the operating company, while Polska Grupa Energetyczna, Latvenergo and Eesti Energija would hold a 22 percent share each.
The attendees in Copenhagen did not sign any documents, reported Leo LT spokeswoman Aurelija Trakseliene. The next meeting will be in Copenhagen on Aug. 12.
Lithuania wants to build a new nuclear power plant in cooperation with neighboring countries by 2015-2018.
