Keppel lands contract for clean energy plant in Britain

$518m to go green
Bloomberg, Today Online 10 Apr 09;

KEPPEL Corp, the world’s largest builder of oil rigs, won a $518-million contract from Ineos Runcorn to build an energy-from-waste heat and power plant in Britain.

The plant, one of the largest waste and renewable energy projects in the United Kingdom, will serve the Greater Manchester area, and will be completed in 2012, the Singaporean company said in an email statement yesterday. Ineos Runcorn is owned by Pennon Group’s Viridor unit, John Laing and Ineos Chlor, said Keppel.

Britain, China and other countries are building plants to generate energy from uranium, wind and solar to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Keppel’s order is part of a project designed to “bring world-class recycling, waste management and renewable energy infrastructure” to Greater Manchester, Pennon said.

Mr Chua Chee Wui, chief executive officer of Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE), said: “Winning this green project against the backdrop of a global credit crunch is a clear indicator of the financial credit quality in addition to the technological strength of Keppel Seghers (the environmental technology division of KIE).

The plant will have an annual capacity to treat as much as 420,000 metric tonnes of solid recovered fuels from household wastes and can supply about 270,000 megawatts of electricity and 500,000 tonnes of steam, Keppel said. It added that the project is not expected to have material impact on its assets and earnings for the current financial year.

Keppel gained 2.5 per cent to close the morning session at $5.43 before the announcement. The stock has climbed 25 per cent this year compared with a 3.3 per cent advance in the Straits Times Index.