25th Jun 2007 09:30
Scottish & Southern Energy PLC25 June 2007 PURCHASE OF CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION CERTIFICATES Scottish and Southern Energy plc ("SSE"), through its subsidiary, SSE EnergySupply Ltd, has finalised the first of four agreements with GD Power DevelopmentCo. Ltd (a subsidiary of China Guodian Corporation, one of China's major energycompanies) to support the development of four new wind farms in north eastChina. SSE Energy Supply Ltd will purchase approximately two million CarbonEmissions Reduction Certificates (CERs) over a period of five years from thestart of 2008. Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established under Article 12 of theKyoto Protocol, countries - and therefore companies - can meet their carbonemission reduction targets by purchasing CERS from CDM-approved carbon reductionprojects in the developing world. This is the first time that SSE has directlyacquired primary CERs from a project. Each of the four wind farms is expected to have an installed capacity of around50MW and will displace carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations in theregion, leading to around two million tonnes of carbon dioxide being avoided.The construction of the first of the wind farms, GD Xingcheng Haibin is alreadyunder way and the last of them is expected to be commissioned during 2008. In May 2007, SSE announced that it has set itself a target to reduce by 20% over10 years to 2016 the amount of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour of electricityproduced at power stations in which it has an ownership or contractual interest.It said its target would include CERs from specific generation projects underthe CDM, but would exclude those which are not related to a specific generationproject. In March 2007, the UK government published its Approved National Allocation Planfor Phase II of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, from 2008 to 2012. Across itsgeneration portfolio (taking account of contractual shares), SSE will receive anallocation of 16.3 million tonnes per annum, compared with 19.6 million tonnesper annum in Phase 1. SSE's Phase II allocation as a percentage of its Phase Iallocation is around 83%, compared with around 80% across the electricity sectoras a whole. The agreements were brokered by Tradition Financial Services (TFS) in London andEasy Carbon in Beijing and are expected to be finalised in July. All agreementsare subject to approvals by the Executive Board of the United Nations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said: "Climate change is literally a global challenge and supporting the developmentof clean sources of energy anywhere in the world is a key means of addressingit. We have deliberately acquired CERs which relate to a mature electricitygeneration technology which we have experience of operating, because we want tobe sure that they are making a real difference. "The large majority of our investment in reducing carbon emissions will continueto be in the UK, but CERs are an effective means of supplementing it." Enquiries to: Scottish and Southern Energy plcJustyn Smith - Head of Media Relations + 44 (0)845 0760 530Sharron Miller-Mckenzie - Press Office Manager + 44 (0)845 0760 530 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
SSE