Major Eastern Europe Power Markets Open their Doors to Foreign Investors

Monday 16 July 2012, Amsterdam

As power requirements continue to grow across Eastern Europe, countries across the region are increasing market privatization to boost investment from abroad, finds the new Major Power Markets in Eastern Europe to 2020 - Renewable Resources, Privatization, and Easing Barriers to Entry in Russia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine and Turkey report.

The report highlights a shift in strategy for the area’s power industry that includes increasing competition, improving transparency and diversifying the energy mix.

The countries of Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, Turkey, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine) are currently in the process of restructuring with the aim of allowing greater privatization. Russia, for example, is offering stakes in key companies and creating significant opportunities for foreign investors as part of a large scale privatization program, due to run from 2011 to 2013. Turkey and the Czech Republic are also making efforts to open up their power markets to higher foreign investment by lowering entry requirement barriers.

Furthermore, Eastern Europe is attempting to ease reliance on thermal power by spurring on renewable energy projects. Thermal power accounted for 68.7% of total installed capacity in 2011, however, the report predicts this will fall to 60.3% by 2020, owing to increased renewable energy production. This new emphasis on renewable energy is also serving as a driver for foreign investment with governments enticing companies with attractive incentives.

Fossil fuel based power is the prevalent solution to energy requirements in the region due to the presence of abundant natural resources. Although the renewable energy sector is growing, it cannot satiate population demands, especially considering the rapid industrialisation of the area.

The nuclear power industry is also set expand quite significantly over the next decade, predicts this new report. The total installed nuclear power capacity of the major power markets of Eastern Europe for 2012 is 42,969 MW – a 10.7% share of the overall installed capacity.

Thanks to major growth in Russia and the entrance of Turkey into the nuclear power sector, this figure is anticipated to more than double to reach 85,313 MW in 2020 – 15.7% of the total installed capacity for the major Eastern European power market.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the major Eastern Europe power markets: Russia, Poland, Turkey, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine. It also covers cumulative installed capacity and power generation from 2005 to 2020 for thermal power, hydropower, nuclear power and renewable power.

This report was built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research, and in-house analysis conducted by a team of industry experts.