EUROPLASMA

CHO Morcenx Power Plant Status Update

BORDEAUX, France, December 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

CHO Morcenx status update - Successful tests on the CHO Morcenx plant further prove viability of plant, planning for 2015 amended to reflect updated equipment delivery schedule.

• Critical endurance/reliability tests successfully completed - 14 consecutive days of operation
• Engine supplier delays delivery of additional engines
• Final major plant upgrading underway
• Forecast on new project timing maintained
• Evidence of increasing market traction
• Management confidence reiterated

December endurance campaign successfully completed: 

As part of the last development stage of the CHO Power process, the company has conducted in December critical endurance tests. For the first time, the CHO Morcenx power plant ran for 14 consecutive days, between the 1^st and December 15^th 2014, proceeding 886 tons of waste, and delivering 383MWh of renewable electricity. This campaign aimed at validating the sustained reliability and stability of the process, overall performance of the plant having already been validated in October 2014. Upon expiry of the two-weeks campaign the plant was maintained in operation for two days, in order to test some new operational settings, then has been shut down, as planned, in order to start working on the next phase of upgrades and improvements.

This endurance campaign has allowed the company to validate the multiple improvements that were brought to the plant over the past few weeks .A training program of CHOPEX staff has also started in order to ensure that the team is adequately skilled to conduct long term operation and level-1 maintenance of the engines, now property of CHO Morcenx. This training will be completed by the end of 2014 and will allow the CHOPEX teams to run the engines autonomously.

Final acceptance delays by the late delivery of additional engines: 

Within the planning previously announced on in August 2014, was the delivery of additional engines to the 2 engines already running at CHO Morcenx, which would allow the plant to exceed 10MWe of electrical output.

However, the engine supplier has just informed the company of their inability to deliver new engines within the previously announced timeframe, and therefore causing a delay in the final acceptance date. The Management is actively looking for potential alternatives and is working with several channels, including the current engine supplier, in order to secure those engines earlier.