Slovenia has appointed new leadership at state-owned GEN energija and electricity supplier and trader GEN-I, changing management at two of the country’s most important energy companies as decisions over the proposed Krško 2 nuclear project move closer.
GEN energija’s supervisory board appointed former minister Andrej Vizjak as chief executive for a four-year term, while Jure Soklič was named to lead GEN-I.
Vizjak said GEN would continue work on the proposed JEK2/Krško 2 nuclear plant and the Mokrice hydropower project, signalling continuity in the group’s main generation strategy despite the leadership change.
The appointments matter because GEN energija sits at the centre of Slovenia’s long-term electricity investment programme.
A second reactor at Krško would be one of the largest energy infrastructure investments undertaken in Southeast Europe and could reshape Slovenia’s generation balance, financing requirements and regional trading position for decades.
The project remains at the development and decision-making stage, leaving major questions over technology, capacity, cost, ownership and financing.
Changes in senior management therefore attract particular attention as the company approaches decisions that could lock in billions of euros of capital expenditure.
GEN also faces the task of managing the existing Krško nuclear plant while expanding renewable and flexible generation.
The country’s electricity system combines nuclear, hydro, thermal generation and increasingly solar power, but recent weak hydrology has demonstrated the value of maintaining diversified firm supply.
Slovenian generation fell sharply during parts of 2026 as hydro output weakened.
That increased dependence on imports and gas-fired generation, reinforcing the strategic case for additional reliable domestic capacity.
JEK2 is intended to address that longer-term requirement, but its scale creates substantial financial risk.
Large European nuclear projects have faced construction delays and cost overruns, increasing scrutiny of contracting structures and the allocation of risk between utilities, governments, suppliers and consumers.
Any Slovenian project would also have to be assessed against alternative combinations of renewables, storage, interconnection and flexible generation.
The leadership changes at GEN energija and GEN-I are therefore more than a personnel issue.
GEN-I is one of the region’s major electricity traders and suppliers, while GEN energija controls strategic generation assets.
Their relationship gives the wider group exposure across production, wholesale trading and retail markets.
Vizjak has also identified the group’s circular ownership relationship as an issue requiring attention, adding a governance dimension to the management transition.
For investors and counterparties, continuity on Krško 2 reduces immediate uncertainty about strategic direction.
It does not remove the larger questions surrounding project economics.
The next phase will require Slovenia to move from broad support for additional nuclear generation towards decisions on technology, capital structure, risk allocation and the price consumers would ultimately pay for the electricity.
