Romania’s state-owned nuclear generator, Nuclearelectrica, expects to sell around 30% of its generated power through local exchange OPCOM, the company confirmed to ICIS Heren on Thursday. The remainder of Nuclearelectrica’s power will be sold through regulated contracts, where the price is settled by the energy regulator ANRE. Nuclearelectrica, which operates Romania’s sole 1.4GW Cernavoda nuclear power plant, sells its power through OPCOM’s Centralised Market for Bilateral Contracts (CMBC), which specifically auctions generators’ long-term contracts. A forward power market does not exist in the country. ICIS Heren understands that so far Nuclearelectrica has sold five 20MW Calendar 2010 Baseload contracts for lei 165.5–175/ MWh (�39.05-41.30/MWh), although the generator was unable to confirm this. On Thursday, Cal ’10 Baseload on the over-the-counter market in neighbouring Hungary was changing hands at �44.65/ MWh. Cheap hydropower in Romania has led to lower prices there than elsewhere in the Central and Eastern European region. According Business Standard, stateowned Romanian hydro generator Hidroelectrica has been selling Cal ’10 Baseload for �27–28/MWh on OPCOM, although the producer was not available to confirm this. On the CMBC, OPCOM lists all stategenerated power for sale. Bidders approach the exchange with their bids. The best price offered wins the tender, and if two potential buyers offer the same best price, a second tender will be held between them. Last year, the CMBC registered a total traded volume of 11.5TWh, a touch lower than the year before (see EDEM 15 January 2009). Meanwhile, Cernavoda, which generates 18% of Romania’s power, produced 1.1TWh. TMM EDEM 13.230 | 26 November 2009 | www.icis.com/heren |