The economic viability of the project is based primarily on the price of coal from the local coal mine, Premogovnik Velenje.

The price was assumed at EUR 2.25 per gigajoule and was one of the commitments the power plant made to secure state guarantees for a EUR 440m loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

But a report earlier this week suggested the coal mine operator could meet the price requirement and remain profitable only by undertaking significant disinvestments - over EUR 30m over the next three years.

The economics of the TEŠ6 project continue to weight down on the state-owned energy utility HSE, the parent company of both TEŠ and the Premogovnik Velenje coal mine.

HSE is projected to end both 2014 and 2015 in the black, though with significant financial liabilities.

Infrastructure Minister Samo Omerzel has suggested HSE should undergo cost-cutting and sell some of its assets, in particular its majority stake in HESS, the company which builds and operates hydro plants on the lower Sava, and in Gen Energija, the manager of Slovenia's half of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant.

Today's session has been called by deputies of the opposition Democrats (SDS), who claim key state bodies have lost control of the project.

The construction of the generator had initially been projected to cost only EUR 600m.