Compared to a profit of 82.2 million euros in the same period last year, Bulgarian sole nuclear power plant NPP Kozloduy had a significant drop, as it recorded a net profit in the amount of 64.5 million euros in the first half of 2020.
The power plant’s sales revenues decreased by 8.9 % to 293.4 million euros in the January-June 2020 period. NPP Kozloduy sold 7,771,407 MWh of electricity in the first half of 2020, a 0.4 % increase year-on-year. Sales on the regulated market rose by 53.8 % to 1,597,285 MWh, while sales on the free market fell by 7.9 % to 6,162,536 MWh.
Gross electricity production increased by an annual 0.4 % to 8,167,984 MWh, thanks to a 0.8 % rise in the output of unit 6, which produced 4,660,871 MWh. The output of unit 5 dropped slightly by 0.1 % to 3,507,113 MWh. The difference in production volumes is due to the fact that unit 5 was down for maintenance for about a month in the first half of the year, while the overhaul of unit 6 is scheduled for the second half of 2020.
Originally, NPP Kozloduy had six reactors, but four older 440 MW reactors were shut down in 2007 due to nuclear safety concern of the European Union. The plant currently operates two Soviet-built 1,000 MW reactors, unit 5 and unit 6 which were commissioned in 1987 and 1991 respectively.