The closure of two units at the Kozloduy nuclear plant in Bulgaria has fundamentally transformed energy flows in the region. The growing regional energy deficit is being met through the sourcing of energy from western European markets, which are experiencing historically high prices.

Thanks to the size and flexibility of our portfolio, as well as innovative, tailor made solutions continually developed by the company’s in-house team, EFT was ready and well equipped to adapt to these changing circumstances and to satisfy the energy needs of all our clients.

AUSTRIA

EFT was one of the top four participants on the Austrian energy exchange EXAA (www.exaa.at), during the first six months of the year. In total EFT traded 200 GWh of energy on EXAA between January and June.

EFT AG successfully passed the registration process which enables it to exercise Balance Group Responsiblity in Austria. This activity is restricted to the region covered by the APG and APCS regulators.

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA

EFT opened up a new office in Banja Luka. This will be headed by Slavisa Krunic (pictured right), who will oversee the development of the TPP Stanari project, and other potential investments in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Prior to joining EFT, Slavisa was the Chief Executive Officer of Telekom Srpske, Republika Srpska’s telecoms provider.

The Stanari mine was granted international ISO certification for quality control, health and safety at work and protection of the environment. The certification process was conducted by TUV Management Service from Munich, who judged the operation at the Stanari mine merited ISO 9001, ISO 140001 and OHSAS 18001. This is the first time such a certificate has been granted to a coal-mine in south-eastern Europe.

The second anniversary since EFT took over the mine was marked on May 16th. The event was attended by representatives of the government and the diplomatic missions in Bosnia & Herzegovina, as well as many others. As is tradition, the best employees were financially rewarded for their endeavours. EFT also gave awards to the best students from the local primary school “Desanka Maksimovic”. The management of EFT Stanari presented plans for the mine, supportive of the development of the TPP Stanari project.

The first phase of the TPP Stanari project is successfully being completed (see feature article below). The Feasibility Study has been finished, the new Stanari zone regulation plan has been adopted by the local council and the Environmental Impact Assessment study has been submitted for external verification, all paving the way for the ecology permit to be issued during the second half of the year. The tendering phase for EPC services will commence in September.

CROATIA

In preparation for further liberalisation of Croatia’s energy market, EFT Hrvatska successfully completed the licensing procedure with the countries’ energy regulatory agency HERA (www.hera.hr). EFT’s Croatian company is now able to offer energy directly to all the qualified consumers in the country.

CZECH REPUBLIC

EFT Cesko A.S has been successfully created, forming the local EFT Group presence in the Czech Republic. The company has applied for a trading licence from the Czech energy regulatory agency ERU.

HUNGARY

In June, EFT Budapest won the additional 2007 MAVIR (local Transmission System Operator) tender for the supply of reserve energy services. In case of system failure in Hungary, EFT is obliged to supply energy to Hungarian TSO at extremely short–term notice.

According to the statistics by the Hungarian Energy Office (www.eh.gov.hu), EFT Budapest is one of the top five traders in the country's energy market during the first half of 2007. The top five in the Hungarian market in this period are EFT, ATEL, CEZ, D-Energia (EDF) and E.ON.

ROMANIA

EFT Romania was one of the founding members of AFEER, the Romanian Association of Energy Suppliers. The Association’s role will be to foster the development of the energy market in Romania.

SERBIA

EFT d.o.o. was successful in the EPS tender for qualified tenderers. EFT d.o.o. is licensed to participate in future procurement and sales tenders conducted by Serbia’s state power utility.

Tomaz Oresic (pictured right) joins EFT as head of marketing for central Europe. Tomaz will particularly focus on further developing the company's retail business in the region. Prior to joining EFT, Tomaz headed Elektro Maribor, one of Slovenia’s leading power distribution companies.

In January 2007, the report was completed and demonstrated the undoubted viability of the project. The Stanari power plant concept is based on one generation unit with supercritical steam parameters. Other key design elements include a steam turbine generator set with a gross capacity of approximately 420 MW, use of an indirect dry cooling system, as well as the use of state-of-the-art auxiliary systems with extremely low water demand.

According to the study, TPP Stanari will supply approximately 390 MW net electrical power to the grid, some 25% of the present overall production of energy in Bosnia & Herzegovina. For the 7500 annual operating hours, the plant will use 2.8 million tonnes of coal from the Stanari mine, which will in tandem increase its capacity to 3.2 million tonnes. For more information on TPP Stanari, please visit www.eft-stanari.net.

On 26th April 2007, the elected representatives of the Doboj municipality Council voted to adopt the new Stanari zone regulation plan, which includes the plan for the Stanari TPP, development of the mine and its accompanying infrastructure. The decision marks the end of an important phase in the project and paves the way for the authorities of Republika Srpska to issue final building licences.

The final phase for obtaining building permissions for the Stanari TPP is pending, subject to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study being verified by the authorities. The EIA study was commissioned in December 2006 and completed in June by the IPSA Institute from Sarajevo.

The study’s findings are based on the environmental data collected by IG Banja Luka, in the period between March 2006 and March 2007 in Stanari and five other localities and the defined TPP technical concept set out in the Feasibility Study. In addition to the authorities of Republika Srpska, the TPP Stanari EIA Study is also being verified for its compliance with EU Standards by one of the world’s leading consultant companies in the field, the UK’s Mott McDonald.