Power producers PGE, Enea and Tauron have signed a letter of intent along with copper giant KGHM to jointly fund the construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant, valued at zł.30-50 billion. The companies, all state-controlled, will buy equity in PGE EJ 1, the entity created to construct and operate the 3,000-megawatt plant.

Treasury Minister Mikołaj Budzanowski said the structure of the joint venture will help spread the costs and risks of building the plant.

“Today we have a preliminary deal. By the end of December or at the beginning of 2013 we expect some concrete agreement and concrete actions,” he told reporters last week.

The letter, whose signing was announced at the Economic Forum in Krynica, is the first step towards a potential agreement outlining the rights and obligations of the parties in the project, which is to be managed by PGE. All signatories have so far avoided speculating on the size of the stakes they will hold in the company.

“We have been warning for a long time that PGE wouldn’t be able to shoulder the project on its own, and we have just found a solution,” said PGE president Krzysztof Kilian.

“The letter authorizes us to negotiate,” said Mr Kilian, adding that the decision to cooperate is a breakthrough for Poland’s nascent nuclear energy industry.

Two nuclear plants with a total output of 6,000 megawatts are to be constructed in Poland by PGE, according to the government’s plans, which are aimed at reducing Poland’s reliance on highly polluting coal to produce electrical energy.

The first plant is due to come online by 2023, the second by 2030.