KTE submitted a new 200 million litas (EUR 57.97 mln) worth investment plan to Kauno Energija earlier this week, Kauno Energija CEO Rimantas Bakas told BNS adding that the plan called for the upgrade of natural gas firing equipment and transformation of steam boiler into a biofuel boiler of 200 MW capacity.
“We can now see certain improvements. Previously there was much talking but nothing too specific,” Bakas said at a meeting of Kaunas City Council on Thursday. Common positions with KTE had not been agreed upon as yet, he added.
Meanwhile, KTE CEO Antanas Pranculis said that the prices of heating generated by KTE might go down at the end of 2014 if an agreement on investments in biofuel boilers was reached soon.
“Our vision and mission are targeted to the period until 2018 and beyond. We have signed a perspective reserve fuel contract on purpose – we have a gas contract in effect by 2015 (with Gazprom). We are actually getting ready to invest and to be the most effective company,” Pranculis said at the meeting.
The council of Kaunas local authority earlier established that talks with KTE should be completed by Mar. 1.
Gazprom intended to build a new power plant in Kaunas and invest around a billion litas in the project, but the Lithuanian government and Kaunas authorities did not approve of these plans.
KTE meets about 90 percent of heating energy needs of Lithuania's second-biggest city of Kaunas.