German, Greek, Chinese firms bid for Bosnia plants

RWE Innogy, Greek state energy utility PPC/DEH and a Chinese firm have submitted bids to build four hydro-power plants in Bosnia, an official said on Thursday.
Bosnia's Serb Republic Energy Ministry invited international firms late in June to bid for the project to construct the plants on the Upper Drina river with a combined capacity of 238 MW at an estimated cost of 500 mln euros ($704.3 mln).
The Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) is an autonomous region that makes up Bosnia along with the Muslim-Croat federation.
"All three companies have submitted banking guarantees of 1 million euros that are valid until December 31, 2011," Milan Bastinac, an assistant to the Serb Republic energy minister, told a news conference.
RWE Innogy is a subsidiary of German utility RWE . The third bidder was the China International Water and Electric Corporation.
Bastinac said the government would review the bids and then propose the best bidder to the regional parliament for the approval of the agreement before the end of the year.
The successful bidder will hold a 51% stake in a joint venture to be set up with the Serb Republic power utility, Elektroprivreda RS (EPRS), which will hold 25% in the company. The remaining stake will be offered to a strategic partner to be chosen by the government, Bastinac said.
Under the tender terms, an interested company must have annual revenues of at least 5 bln euros, capital of 3 bln euros and consolidated profit of minimum of 400 mln euros over the past three years.
It must also own energy plants with installed capacity of more than 2,000 MW, of which at least a half is in hydro-power plants.
The tender for the Upper Drina project failed last year after the government rejected the sole bid from PPC.
Bosnia gets 40% of its electricity from hydro-power, with the rest coming from coal-fired plants, making the Balkan country one of the few in the region capable of exporting power. Its neighbours rely on imports to cover 30-50% of consumption.