Agreement follows similar LOI from Exim Bank for about $17 billion as Warsaw makes progress on financing package
The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is considering support for Poland’s project to build its first commercial nuclear power station with a loan of 4 billion zloty (about $979m, €920m).
The interest was confirmed in a letter of interest signed by the DFC, the US government’s development finance institution, on 12 November.
The DFC letter of interest is another key document related to the financing of the Polish project to build three Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants at a site near the villages of Lubiatowo and Kopalino in Choczewo commune, Pomerania, a province in the north of Poland.
A similar declaration, for the equivalent of about $17bn, was made by the US Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank), following years of talks with Westinghouse, supported by PEJ and Bechtel.
Westinghouse and Bechtel jointly form a US consortium that will implement the nuclear project.
In March, Robert Rudich, energy attaché at the US embassy in Warsaw, said Exim Bank had sent a letter of interest for “a very large number of billions of dollars”. He said: “That is probably the lowest-cost debt financing available and it is an immensely powerful tool that we are bringing to this strategic project.”
“The involvement of the DFC has more than just a financial dimension for us,” said Wojciech Rosiński, finance division director at Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ), the state company set up to implement the nuclear project, including securing financing. “It confirms the US administration’s interest in our project,”
Nuclear LOI Follows ‘Months Of Talks’
Rosiński said that the letter of interest was the outcome of months of talks held between PEJ and the DFC.
Agnes Dasewicz, head of investments at DFC, said DFC is committed to enhancing regional energy security throughout Central and Eastern Europe
“This LOI is a step toward reducing regional reliance on Russian energy exports while also seeking to bolster economic growth and create jobs,” Dasewicz said.
DFC partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world. It invests across sectors including energy, healthcare, critical infrastructure and technology.
In November 2022, Warsaw chose US-based Westinghouse to supply its AP1000 pressurised water reactor technology for the construction of three units in Pomerania.
