OPCON uppdatering

2011-04-06 10:04

OPCON signerar ett MOU med det statligt ägda Shanghai Baosteel (världens 3e största stål producent) gällande att de skall etablera ett Joint Venture för att få in OPCON Powerbox på den kinesiska marknaden. Detta borde allt annat lika få en positiv effekt på OPCON som bolag.

Opcon Powerbox for carbon-free electricity in China - Opcon signs a
memorandum of understanding for joint venture on the Chinese market

Opcon AB, the energy and environmental technology Group, has signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) with state-owned Shanghai Baosteel
Energy Tech Co., Ltd., of China, concerning the establishing of a joint
venture for collaboration around Opcon Powerbox on the Chinese market.
Baosteel Energy is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Baosteel Engineering &
Technology Group Co., Ltd., which is a part of the state-owned steel
group, Baosteel Group, which has over 100,000 employees and sales of
around USD 29 billion.

"We have been assessing different ways of getting Opcon Powerbox into
the Chinese market for some time now. Energy consumption in Chinese
industry today accounts for more than one quarter of global industrial
energy consumption. Baosteel is a strong partner for us, both
industrially and financially. They can contribute to our introduction
and expansion on the Chinese market. As the world's third largest steel
producer, Baosteel operates a number of plants at which we have already,
together with Baosteel, studied the prospects for installing Opcon
Powerbox. They have also visited operating sites in Sweden," says Rolf
Hasselström, President and CEO of Opcon AB.

The memorandum of understanding concerns a joint venture for land-based
sales, installation and assembly of Opcon Powerbox on the Chinese
market. The business model is based on the Build-Own-Operate concept and
Opcon's Boxpower concept, but does not exclude other similar business
models in which Opcon Powerbox can be used for production of electricity
from waste and surplus heat. The aim is to sign a final joint venture
agreement before the end of the third quarter in 2011.

"We will give highest priority to the Chinese market. According to the
memorandum, Baosteel Energy will also place an order for three plants
before the summer in order to cut lead times, meaning that we can get
reference plants in place this year," adds Rolf Hasselström.

Nowhere compares with China when it comes to the expansion of energy
infrastructure. As recently as 2000, China's energy consumption was no
more than half that of the US. Today, the International Energy Agency,
IEA, calculates that China has surpassed the US as the world's largest
energy consumer and China continues to increase its demand, especially
for electricity. In the coming 15 years the IEA expects China to add
further capacity for generation of electricity corresponding to the
entire electricity production capacity of the US. In its latest 5-year
plan China has set a goal of reducing energy consumption by 16% in
relation to GNP while cutting carbon emissions by 17% up to 2015.

A part of Opcon's focus on Waste into Value, Opcon Powerbox is Opcon's
proprietary product for production of carbon-free electricity using
primarily waste and surplus heat starting at temperatures of 55° C.
Opcon Powerbox can be installed at plants in the process industry and at
power plants and on large diesel engines used on land or sea. Opcon
Powerbox can produce up to 6,000 MWh per year.