French and Spanish investors interested in taking over the Arad thermal power plant

Paula Bulzan,Arad

A group of representatives of a French company had talks with the management of CET Arad in order to take over the thermal plant. The announcement concerning the privatization and the demerger of the plant sparked sizeable interest. According to the manager of CET Arad, Cornel Secianschi, investors from Spain and Finland also expressed their interest. "I am waiting for an investor to take over the plant, which would allow us to provide households with heat this winter. The situation is difficult, that is why we asked all of them to submit letters of intent", Cornel Secianschi said. The Spanish investors said they intend to invest EUR 200 million in the lignite-based plant, with most of the investments going towards upgrading the equipment.

The Board also approved the Program for the Reorganization of CET Arad. This will consist of several steps taken to improve the operation of the company and to minimize arrears, which currently amount to 74,855,000 lei. The management of CET Arad announced that it intends to upgrade the plant using EBRD funds. According to the project, one of the lignite based boilers of the plant will be converted to use gas. Part of the heat and warm water network will be rehabilitated. This will cost an estimated EUR 17.5 million, to come from an EBRD loan and from the city"s public budget.

It is estimated the program will generate approximately 10 - 20% savings of fuel, up to 50% in electricity savings and a significant drop of the water consumption in the selected regions and will lead to the improvement of the quality of centralized heating services provided to consumers. The technical, financial and institutional feasibility studies for the project have already been completed, using the resources of the Fund for Technical Cooperation between Sweden, the EBRD and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.