Competition, Construction, Energy, Energy Market, EU – Baltic States, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

A consortium of Switzerland's Hitachi Zosen Inova, a Hitachi subsidiary, and its partner Abener Energia of Spain that were participating in the tender has filed a lawsuit to a Vilnius court, asking to annul the results and recognize it as the winner.

On Friday, the court rejected the plea to suspend the signing of the contract with a consortium headed by Germany's Steinmuller Babcock Environment that won the tender, told the court official Raimonda Jagminaite.

Ernesta Dapkiene of the Lithuania's state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy) implementing the tender told that the offer of Hitachi Zosen Inova and Abener Energia had come in second.

The power plant should be built by the consortium of Steinmuller Babcock Environment, which includes Budimex, one of Poland's largest engineering and infrastructure construction groups, and Lithuania's gas pipeline construction company Kauno Dujotekio Statyba, for 178.29 mln euros. The plant's biofuel burning equipment and supplies infrastructure should be constructed by Poland's energy object builder Rafako for 149.65 mln euros.

Estimated at a total of 345 mln euros, the power plant project will for now be developed by Lietuvos Energija, which will also include a partner, if one is found in the future.