BORDEAUX, April 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
The adjustments carried out to the CHO Power plant in Morcenx in
March have improved its performance, close to the level set in the
take-over procedure, but not quite sufficient to meet them in a
stable manner.
During the last week of March, the plant processed 555 tons of
biomass, delivered 160 MWh of renewable electricity to the grid,
and produced a high-quality syngas without added methane. These
results were encouraging, but insufficient, and the plant has been
stopped on 31 March in order to carry out further adjustments to
improve the overall plant performances. These adjustments
essentially concern the enhanced measurement and control of air
into the gasifier, in temperature, flow, and pressure.
Concurrently, the cash situation of the group was continuing to
deteriorate given the TOD delays.
Confronted to these financial and technical uncertainties and in
a context where information was difficult to control due to the
multiplicity of external interventions, the company has decided to
suspend trading of the ALEUP stock on 31st March.
Since then, the financial visibility of the group has improved,
thanks to the support of the French state, of our industrial
partners, and of our financial partners. This support is currently
being implemented, it will allow the CHO Power and CHOPEX teams to
work towards optimizing plant performances with more serenity.
The plant has re-started yesterday. Again the capacity ramp-up
will be executed prudently, over several days, seeking to secure
process stability at each intermediate step.
Jean-Eric Petit, C.E.O. of the
Group specifies: "At this stage, I am not planning to re-activate
trading of the ALEUP stock before we have a good visibility over
the materialization of the financial support, expected in the next
few days, and the capacity of the Morcenx plant to reach TOD
performance levels, expected in the next few weeks. I thank
shareholders as well as public and private partners for their
understanding and patience".
About Europlasma
Europlasma is a French Group operating in the clean technologies
and renewable energy production industries. Founded in 1992 to
apply its proprietary plasma torch technology to hazardous waste
destruction, it is now built on the following three business
units:
- Torches & Processes - Europlasma is a world-wide
supplier of plasma heating systems and related applications
- Hazardous Waste - Inertam is the global specialist in
the destruction and recycling of asbestos and hazardous waste
- Renewable Energies - CHO Power is a producer of
electricity from waste and biomass gasification.
http://www.europlasma.com [Alternext - NYSE Euronext Paris
- Mnemo : ALEUP - Isin : FR0000044810]
Press and investor contacts
Jean-Eric PETIT, Chief Executive Officer / Estelle
MOTHAY, Chief Financial Officer
Anne BORDERES, Press & Shareholders contact / Tel:
+33-556-497-000 / contactbourse@europlasma.com