Rurelec Regulatory News (RUR)

9 Mar 2007 07:01

Rurelec PLC09 March 2007 Rurelec PLC ("Rurelec" or "the Company") Rurelec PLC, the AIM quoted power developer and owner of power plants in LatinAmerica, today announces that Energia del Sur ("EdS"), Rurelec's Argentine powergeneration business, has signed a loan agreement with Standard Bank of Londonfor US$18 million. The loan is believed to be the first financing for powergeneration in Argentina since the Peso crash of 2001 and has a limited recoursefacility of five years for the conversion to combined cycle gas turbine ("CCGT")operation of the existing 78 MW open cycle gas turbine gas-fired power plant inCommodoro Rivadavia, Patagonia. The CCGT conversion will add a further 60 MW of new high efficiency capacity bythe addition of a steam turbine powered by waste heat from the two open cycleGeneral Electric 6B gas turbines. Since the bulk of the steam for thisadditional power capacity is produced from exhaust gases that would otherwisejust vent into the atmosphere, the new plant will be eligible for carbon creditsunder the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism established under the KyotoProtocol. Total EdS capacity will be 138 MW when the CCGT conversion iscompleted in 2008. A combined cycle plant produces 40 per cent. less CO2 than a plant using thesame gas turbines in open cycle. A typical traditional coal fired power plant of138 MW emits three times as much CO2 as a high efficiency combined cycle gasfired power plant such as EdS. The new 60 MW capacity at EdS is already well under construction and therefurbished ABB steam turbine is already on site together with 96 containers ofequipment. In view of the unavailability of ground water for cooling inPatagonia, which is typically dry and windy, EdS has acquired a state of the artair cooling system from a decommissioned power plant in New Jersey, where thesteam turbine was also sourced. The cost savings from the Rurelec policy of sourcing grey market equipment willmean that EdS is one of the lowest cost CCGT plants in Latin America. For further information, please contact: Peter EarlManaging Director Tel. 020 7793 5610 Stewart DickDaniel Stewart & Company Tel. 020 7776 6579 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange