France’s Bpifrance Assurance Export and Sfil are the latest financial institutions to sign letters of intent (LOIs) with Polish nuclear utility Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) regarding financing of Poland’s first nuclear power plant. In November 2022, the then Polish government selected Westinghouse AP1000 reactor technology for construction of the plant at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Choczewo municipality in Pomerania.
The LOIs are for the equivalent of more than PLN15bn ($3.75bn). PEJ Vice-President Piotr Piela welcomed the development. “We are consistently implementing our strategy of obtaining financing for the project and are expanding the group of leading entities cooperating with us, financing the nuclear sector,” he said
A few days earlier, PEJ also received a LOI from Export Development Canada (EDC), for up to CAD2.02bn ($1.45bn) in potential support for the NPP. In November, the US International Development Finance Corporation signed a letter of interest with PEJ to provide more than $980m in financing for the NPP. This followed a similar commitment for the equivalent of about PLN70bn from the US Export-Import Bank.
Based on the letters of intent received so far, PEJ has declarations of financial commitment totalling more than PLN95bn. PEJ said close cooperation with foreign credit entities is an important element of its strategy, “which ensures financing of the company’s investments and assumes building relationships with suppliers from countries with an extensive supply chain in the nuclear industry”. The aim is to maximise the share of export credit agencies in the project’s debt financing structure, PEJ noted. In September, the Polish government announced its intention to allocate PLN60bn to fund the plant.
