Six candidates have submitted documents to bid in the tender opened by the Bulgarian Energy Holding for a consultant to help it decide how to proceed and attract new investors for the planned Belene nuclear power plant.

The names of the companies were not disclosed by the holding.

This is the first phase in the tender, which was opened by BEH on February 19. The shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit offers in the second part of the procedure.

The project's consultant will be obliged to develop its economic model and proceed to the selection of investors, the update of the financial model, etc.

Bulgaria's new centre-right government, which has put the 2,000 megawatt Belene under review due to rising costs, came up with the idea to hire a new consultant after German utility RWE walked out of the project due to funding problems and Sofia decided to redesign it in the next year to attract new investors.

Meanwhile it emerged that Bulgaria's contract with Russia's Atomstroyexport, commissioned to build the planned Belene nuclear plant, will probably be extended by three months.

Russia proposed last month to extend EUR 2 B of funding to Bulgaria for the construction of the stalled project until Sofia finds a strategic investor, even without corporate or state guarantees.

The extension of the contract with Atomstroyexport will give opportunity to Bulgaria to delay its reply to Russia's offer, which was initially expected by the end of this month.

Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov made it clear on Thursday that Russia's offer for funding will not be enough and that the country will angle for a European investor.

“There are many potential strategic investors. Those, with whom the government has already held talks, are fewer. Now it remains to be seen which of them will submit bids,” the minister said.

He explained that the agreement with Atomstroyexport will be put to a legal and financial review before a decision for its extension is taken.

During their recent visit to Sofia, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Rosatom state nuclear corporation, which controls Atomstroyexport, announced that Rosatom was ready to extend a loan and become a shareholder in Belene plant.

According to Bulgarian Energy and Economy Minister Traicho Traikov in exchange for the offer the Russian side can hold no more than 15-20% of the plant, while the remainder of the loan will be paid through electricity sales. Russia however is expected to insist that it hold at least a 50% stake in Belene nuclear plant.

The Bulgarian government has abandoned plans to cut its shares from 51% to 20-30% and will aim to keep a 50% stake in the multi-billion nuclear project, which has stalled over lack of funding.

RWE's departure from Bulgaria's new Belene nuclear plant put extra pressure on government to find new shareholders while it redefines the scope of investment it needs.

Belene's reactors are to be of the Russian VVER-1000 class, while the Western companies are providing instrumentation and control systems.

State power utility NEK has a majority stake in the plant.

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