Russian electricity trader eyes Cuban joint venture

Russian electricity trader eyes Cuban joint venture
Published on Friday, September 18, 2009

ABAKAN, Russia (Reuters) -- Russian electricity trader Inter RAO plans
to set up a joint venture with Cuban state company Union Electrica by
November, at the latest, Inter RAO's chief executive officer said on
Thursday.

"We have agreed on a foundation document. It will be a 50-50 joint
venture," Yevgeny Dod told reporters.

The sides agreed to form a joint venture in January this year to allow
Inter RAO to invest in the Cuban power sector. In particular, Inter RAO
will upgrade the Maximo Gomez heat power plant which has an installed
capacity of 600 megawatts.

State-controlled Inter RAO, which owns power stations across the former
Soviet Union, has an effective monopoly on power imports and exports in
Russia.

Inter RAO was founded under the auspices of the former state electricity
monopoly to participate in foreign power markets, largely as an exporter
of electricity to Finland.

But it began to expand into generation, first of all in neighbouring
former Soviet republics, and has continued to plot growth while many
other former state power companies, mostly domestic generators, are
ratcheting down investment plans.

By buying and taking power generators under management, it has grown
into one of Russia's top power producers, with 18,000 megawatts of
generation, and has set itself the aim of raising the figure to 30,000

Caribbean Net News: Russian electricity trader eyes Cuban joint venture
(18 September 2009)
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/article.php?news_id=18869