According to a Reuters’ report Friday, the German economics ministry seeks to win the power to block electricity imports from foreign plants that violate EU environmental standards. The ministry wants such authority for itself to be included in the new German energy law, a draft of which should go to the German Cabinet by Christmas.
CEZ has claimed in the past that the blocking of environmentally “less clean” imports from the German market would make CEZ’s life easier in that it would eliminate some of its East European competitors. However, the stock market may fear that such “environmental screening” of imports in Germany may affect CEZ’s own exports there (most of CEZ exports go to Germany). We consider this unlikely, but a definite judgement cannot be made since it is not clear what standards would be used (e.g., the EU currently does not have EU-wide nuclear standards).
Moreover, the nuclear reactor at the Temelin plant was (unexpectedly) switched off by the control system during technical tests on Saturday. The Czech State Bureau for Nuclear Safety said that a “false signal” caused the automatic switching off of the reactor, and that detecting such faults is the purpose of the ongoing tests at Temelin. The reactor was turned back on the same day. The event has nonetheless been seized by environmentalists and Temelin opponents, mainly in Austria, generating more negative publicity for the plant. Neither news is favorable for the stock’s outlook for today.
(Ondřej Daťka)