"We have to decide by May 2013 if we will build one more unit or invest the money into the Visaginas project. If both projects were carried out, that would create too much production capacity in the region, and such projects require huge money," it quoted Dmitry Lopatov, the production director at Narva Power Plants, a unit of the Estonian state energy company.
Katriin Loorents, the retail business communication manager at Eesti Energia, said that the Auvere and Visaginas projects are not directly interrelated and that decisions on Estonia's participation in the nuclear power plant project will be taken by the country's government.
However, she noted that under its agreement with Alstom, Eesti Energia is to inform the French contractor by next May whether or not it will build a second unit at the Auvere plant.
Neither Latvia nor Estonia have given their final consent to participate in the Visaginas project. The current plan is that Japan's Hitachi will own 20 percent of shares in the facility, Lithuania will hold 38 percent, and Latvia and Estonia will take stakes of 20 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
The planned new nuclear power plant in Visaginas, northeastern Lithuania, is estimated to cost around 17 billion litas (EUR 5 billion).
