A European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-administered fund is granting €90 million to upgrade a Lithuanian multi-fuelled power plant in order to help replace capacity lost at the Ignalina nuclear plant, unit 2 of which is due for closure in 2009.
The Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund will help the Elektrenai power plant produce its 1800MWe capacity of from gas, heavy fuel oil and orimulsion.
Meanwhile, the European Union energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs has reportedly suggested that Latvia should not proceed with planned investments in a new nuclear reactor in Lithuania. Instead, Piebalgs said that the investments should come from the private sector.
Latvian officials are understood to have expressed the opinion that such investment would be in the country’s interests, given that Latvia currently imports electricity from Lithuania, Estonia and Russia.
