INTERVIEW - UK green power firm EPRL aims for 2003 listing
Date: 31-May-02
Country: UK
Author: Eva Sohlman
"We are aiming for a listing within the next 18 months," Anthony told Reuters in an interview.
He said Energy Power Resources Limited (EPRL), the largest biomass firm in Britain, expects a boom in the renewable energy sector as the government has set a target of supplying 10 percent of Britain's power from green sources by 2010.
In order to meet the stock exchange's requirements on company size, Anthony said the Bristol-based firm will have to expand this year both in Britain and abroad.
"We would need to complete a small number of acquisitions to reach a critical mass for a listing of a market capitalisation well in excess of 100 million pounds," Anthony said.
Earlier this month, the company bought renewable energy company First Renewables for about 25 million pounds from UK utility Kelda Group Plc .
EPRL nearly doubled its capacity to 70 megawatts (MW) from 30 MW as a result of the First Renewables buy which also helped widen its energy mix to include wind power and energy crops such as willow.
The company is also looking at new projects and is in the final stages of completing a deal to set up a turkey litter power plant in the Netherlands, as well as schemes in the United States.
Anthony said the firm would focus on wind power where production costs have fallen rapidly recently.
"Windpower is going to become an important area for us because the capital costs of building wind turbines are falling due to increased competition amongst manufacturers," he said.
In addition more modern wind turbines have an increased output capacity which make the power plants more economic, Anthony said.
