Nuclear power in Europe

PARIS, Feb 18 (Reuters) – French utility GDF Suez has decided to pull out of Bulgaria’s planned atomic power plant of Belene to focus on its other nuclear projects, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. GDF Suez’s Belgian subsidiary Electrabel had been in talks to take part in German utility RWE’s 49-percent stake in Bulgaria’s 4 billion euro plant.

The Balkan country is building the 2,000 megawatt plant to help it regain its position as a major exporter in Southeast Europe and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (more…)

SOFIA, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Romania is due to sign a deal with selected foreign bidders to build two more reactors at its nuclear power plant in Cernavoda on Nov. 20, one of the investors, GDF Suez, said on Tuesday. Earlier this year, the Balkan country decided to retain a 51 percent stake in the planned reactors and leave the remaining 49 percent for the six bidders it chose last year as partners.

The partners are Belgian Electrabel, owned by French power giant GDF Suez, German power giant RWE, Czech utility CEZ, Italy’s Enel, Spain’s Iberdrola and a Romanian unit of steel giant ArcelorMittal. (more…)

SOFIA, Nov 18 (Reuters) – French power giant GDF Suez said on Tuesday it would decide whether to share a stake in a Bulgarian nuclear project with RWE after examining a deal agreed between the German utility and Sofia.

The Bulgarian government last month chose RWE to become a strategic partner for a 49 percent stake in the planned Belene plant and gave the option to split the stake with the second-listed bidder, Belgian Electrabel, owned by GDF Suez. (more…)

Centrica on Wednesday fulfilled its long-standing vow to take control of Belgian power company SPE, frustrating Gaz de France’s plans to sell its stake to EDF.

The UK energy group exercised a pre-emption right over GDF’s 25.5 per cent stake in SPE for €515m (£407m) in cash, with another €105m later. The deal is expected to be completed in September. (more…)

PARIS (AFP) — Newly formed global energy giant GDF Suez of France is interested in nuclear power operator British Energy but only if the company is split up and sold off site by site.

“If the plan remains to sell British Energy in one go, then it will be sold without us,” said GDF Suez head Gerard Mestrallet in an interview with Les Echos daily to appear Thursday. (more…)

Hopes of a bidding war for British Energy were dealt a blow yesterday after it became clear that Vattenfall, Suez and Eon were not planning to bid for the UK nuclear group.

This leaves RWE of Germany and France’s EDF as the most likely bidders for the UK government’s 35 per cent stake in British Energy before the deadline of Friday, May 9. Both companies – which have power generation operations in the UK – declined to comment. (more…)

BRUSSELS, March 12 (Reuters) – Belgian electricity company SPE said on Wednesday it had bought 635 megawatts of nuclear energy capacity from Suez’s Electrabel, boosting its share of Belgium’s nuclear market to some 15 percent.

SPE, partly owned by Gaz de France and Britain’s Centrica, said it was a three-part deal. (more…)