Atel intends to set up a gas-fired combined heat and electrical power station on the site occupied by the Cimo company (Compagnie Industrielle de Monthey SA). The power station will run on natural gas and produce electricity as well as industrial process steam, supplying an average of 55 tons of steam per hour to chemical companies Ciba SC, Syngenta and Huntsman. Meanwhile, electrical generators will produce around 55 MW of power, some of which will be fed into the public electricity grid. Atel is active in energy services throughout Europe and the company has experience with building and operating gas-fired combined power stations in a number of different countries. The planned Monthey plant will be constructed along similar lines to Atel’s two industrial power stations in northern Italy.
The company Thermatel is being founded to implement the power station. Its main shareholders are Atel and Cimo, with other partners also taking stakes. Building of the plant is expected to get underway in late July 2006; documentation for a construction permit was submitted recently. The Cimo Board of Directors will issue a final decision on the project in the near future. Commercial operation is planned to begin in mid-2008. The new combined heat and power station will replace an old steam-generating boiler. The Cimo plant represents an investment of 90 million francs.
Aare-Tessin Ltd. for Electricity Corporate Communications
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