WIND.L Regulatory News (WIND)

11 Apr 2008 07:00

Renewable Energy Generation Ltd11 April 2008 Press Release 11 April 2008 Renewable Energy Generation Limited ("REG" or the "Group" or the "Company") AGM Statement Speaking today in Guernsey at the 1030hrs Annual General Meeting of RenewableEnergy Generation Limited, the international renewable energy group, MichaelListon, OBE, Chairman of the Group, will make the following comments aboutcurrent trading and the Company's trading outlook: "With progress in project development and construction remaining in line withthe Board's expectations, I am pleased to report that REG continues to performwell in its core, wind markets in the UK and Canada and has rapidly positioneditself to exploit early mover advantage in the highly promisingpower-from-used-cooking- oil market in the UK. "Our UK wind development pipeline now totals over 200MW and is operating under aPower Purchase Agreement with Smartest Energy Ltd. Today, we have 17.7MW ofoperating wind power in the UK compared with 5.6MW prior to 2007. The volume ofour development stage wind projects having entered the local planning processhas increased to eight, totalling over 40MW and a further eight projects acrossthe UK are in the planning preparation stage. It is hoped that planningdecisions will be made on a number of these sites over the coming months. "We successfully completed the construction of four new projects in the UKduring 2007 totalling 12.1.MW. Among these was Roskrow Barton, our second sitein Cornwall - a two turbine site which was completed in just four months. Wenow have a confirmed turbine delivery date for our two 1.8MW projects atWhittlesey and Ramsey in Cambridgeshire which will be completed during thesummer. We were delighted to receive planning permission recently from thelocal planning authority for our 3.9MW project at Loscar, Rotherham. This is avery satisfying result after an intensive period of close consultation anddetailed development work with the authority. Turbine procurement is alreadywell advanced, and we will place orders as soon as the statutory review periodby the Department for Communities & Local Government is completed. "Development of the Group's Used Cooking Oil ("UCO") business continues toexceed our expectations. In the past six months, REG Bio-Power has placedorders for twenty-two generating units using Volvo engines, of which most havealready been delivered. Twelve units have been purchased for the 6MW Bentwaterssite, in Suffolk, where performance testing has now been completed and fullcommercial operation is expected in the next few weeks. The value of theelectricity from Bentwaters is higher than budgeted, and with ROCs and LECs, theproject will enjoy all-up value of well over £100 per MWh. Further projects areplanned for installation over the next six months. "Although an economically viable supply of imported vegetable oils is readilyaccessible, we have sought, with early success, long-term UCO fuel supplycontracts with leading UK corporates and local authorities. We recently securedsupply agreements initially for up to 2015 with Norfolk, Suffolk andCambridgeshire County Councils and more counties are planned. Our distributedcollection activities in the South East have enjoyed the support of AnglianWater and we are engaging with the Environment Agency to establish the fullfuture potential for exploitation of the market for used cooking oil. "In Canada, our wholly owned subsidiary AIM PowerGen Corporation (APG),continues to make progress in converting its substantial development pipelineinto operating wind projects. Construction of the first four 10MW "StandardOffer Projects" (SOPs) in Ontario has recently been completed and they willgradually enter commercial service over the next three months. An additionalthree projects, representing 30MW of additional capacity for which turbines havealready been ordered from Vestas, are set to go to construction this autumn andshould be online by early 2009. We are planning to build a further 15 SOPprojects representing 150MW during 2009 and 2010 and we have already constructedmore projects under the SOP program than any other developer in Ontario. "With respect to larger scale projects, APG recently received notice that theManitoba Hydro utility will be focussing discussions for the time being with oneof the other short-listed bidders in the 300MW RFP. However, the utility hasadvised APG it may re-engage with them at a later date on its Dominion Cityproject. As such, this project and another APG 100MW project in Manitoba are onhold until further word from the utility on the current RFP and the plan toprocure the balance of the 1000MW target the provincial government had set. TheOntario RFP for 500MW of renewable power is expected to be issued in the nextfour weeks and the Group intends to bid approximately 300MW into this process inconjunction with an equity partner. Winning bidders should be announced thisautumn. Other RFPs are expected in the next 12 months in Newfoundland andSaskatchewan, where APG has larger sites under development. "The Group's development achievements in the past year provide a strongfoundation for performance in 2008. Having achieved positive cash flow and,with a track record of completing projects on time and on budget and a strongdevelopment pipeline, we look forward with confidence to the future." Contacts: Renewable Energy Generation Ltd Tel: 01483 400 444Andrew Whalley, Chief Executive OfficerDavid Crockford , Finance Director Numis Securities Ltd Tel: 020 7260 1000Charles Farquhar / Anthony Richardson / Jag Mundi Hogarth Partnership Ltd Tel: 020 7357 9477Sarah MacLeodJulian WalkerVicky Watkins Notes to Editors Renewable Energy Generation Ltd (REG) is a world-leading renewable energy group.The Group's main business is the development, ownership and operation of windfarms in the UK and Canada. It also generates power from refined used cookingoil in the UK. • The Cornwall Light & Power Co. Ltd: based in Cornwall, UK, it currently operates five wind projects in Cornwall, County Durham, Cumbria and Gwynedd, with a total capacity of 17.7MW and has a development pipeline of around 200MW. • AIM PowerGen Corporation: based in Toronto, Canada, AIM PowerGen Corporation is one of Canada's largest independent wind developers and has a pipeline of over 4,000MW of potential wind projects across seven provinces. • REG Bio-Power UK Ltd: based in Norfolk, UK, it operates electricity generation plant fuelled by refined used cooking oil. Headquartered in Guernsey, REG was admitted to trading on the AlternativeInvestment Market ("AIM"), a market operated by the London Stock Exchange inMay 2005 (AIM: RWE). www.renewableenergygeneration.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange