US company AES project for building new power generators for Bulgarias Maritsa Iztok 1 thermal power plant (TPP) won an international award for investment, the company said on March 8.
The Maritsa Iztok 1 project - the largest inward investment in Bulgaria as well as in the Central and Eastern Europes energy market, worth 1.1 billion euro - was named the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Power Deal of the Year by Project Finance Magazine, a Euromoney publication.
Each year, 350 corporate borrowers, advisers and lending banks attend the annual Project Finance Deals of the Year Awards Dinner in London, and 250 in New York.
On March 7 at an official ceremony in London, the innovations and excellence were acknowledged across the project finance markets in EMEA region, and the trophies were presented to the winning borrowers, corporate and financial advisers and banks.
The awards dinners are usually held in London (for the EMEA region), New York (for the Americas) and Hong Kong (for the Asia-Pacific region).
The Project Finance award is a well-deserved acknowledgement of the companys efforts in Bulgaria and the region, said Matthew Bartley, the Maritsa Iztok 1 project manager at AES.
Bulgaria is experiencing good economic growth, political stability and good opportunities in the power sector as it prepares for European Union accession. In Bartleys view, the country needs more electricity to fuel its economic expansion and their new power plant will go a long way toward meeting Bulgarias electricity needs as well as maintaining its strong position as an exporter to neighbouring countries.
We are very happy to receive this award as recognition of the professionalism of our team and the good cooperation we have with the Bulgarian institutions that drive the project, Bartley said.
After a seven-year delay, AES signed a contract with the Cabinet on December 7 2005 for the construction of two units with a total capacity of 670 megawatts on the site of Maritsa Iztok 1.
About 70 per cent of the investment funds come from credits received from Caylon, ING Bank, BNP Paribas and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The other 30 per cent come from the AES investment.
Work on the project began in September 1998. According to the latest agreement the first new block is to start functioning on June 31 2008 and the second on December 31 the same year. Completion of the project will create 10 000 new jobs.
