Regular electricity production on track for February 2022
Teollisuuden Voima Oyj and plant supplier Areva-Siemens have reached agreement regarding the terms of completion for the Olkiluoto-3 EPR project in Finland, with grid connection scheduled for October 2021 and regular electricity production remaining on track for February 2022.
TVO and plant supplier consortium companies Areva NP, Areva GmbH and Siemens AG, along with Areva Group parent company Areva SA, have been negotiating the terms of the project completion since summer 2020. The Areva companies have also been preparing a financial solution to ensure the funding needed for completion.
A key element of the financial solution is that an Areva companies’ trust mechanism established in 2018 is to be replenished with approximately €600m. Both parties will cover their own costs from July 2021 until end of February 2022 and if the project is not completed by the end of February 2022, the plant supplier consortium companies will pay additional compensation for delays.
TVO and plant supplier consortium companies Areva NP, Areva GmbH and Siemens AG, along with Areva Group parent company Areva SA, have been negotiating the terms of the project completion since summer 2020. The Areva companies have also been preparing a financial solution to ensure the funding needed for completion.
A key element of the financial solution is that an Areva companies’ trust mechanism established in 2018 is to be replenished with approximately €600m. Both parties will cover their own costs from July 2021 until end of February 2022 and if the project is not completed by the end of February 2022, the plant supplier consortium companies will pay additional compensation for delays.
TVO said a final agreement is to be signed by the end of May, after which certain conditions have to be fulfilled for the agreement to enter into force.
First fuel loading at Olkiluoto-3, a 1,600-MW Generation III EPR unit, was completed in March.
Construction of the plant, which began in August 2005, is about 10 years behind schedule.
The cost of Olkiluoto-3 was initially put at €3.2bn, but in 2012 Areva estimated the overall cost at closer to €8.5bn. Since then, it has not made public any updated cost projection. TVO told NucNet in an email it would not comment on the cost of the facility.
