Italy's Edison Approves 2009-14 Business Plan

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On December 5, the Administrative Council of Edison SpA (BIT:EDN) (Milan, Italy) approved a $9.2 billion business plan for the period 2009-14, equally distributed between power generation and natural gas infrastructure. In the power area, the plan's main guidelines are the maintenance of the company's 15% share of the Italian power generation market and increased participation in power generation abroad, both in renewable and traditional energy sources.

The main underlying assumptions behind this plan's scenario are an average price for crude oil of $75 per barrel and of coal at $90 per ton, an exchange rate near $1.30 per euro, and a 13.45% increase in power demand. The cashflow generated within the Italian market is expected to cover investments in power generation stations abroad and renewable energy both in Italy and abroad for a total of $2.7 billion.

Within Italy, the 2009-14 business plan provides a total investment of $1.3 billion for non-renewable power generation, including $527 million for an 800-megawatt (MW) grassroot natural gas power plant in central Italy expected to be complete in 2012 and $300 million for repowering the existing power plants in the cities of Porto Marghera, Bussi, San Quirico and Porto Viro. The total expected investments in the renewable power sector will be $1.22 billion. Finally, $295.5 million is designated to investments in Edipower SpA (Milan, Italy), a joint venture of which Edison has a 50% share.

The planned investments outside of Italy amount to $1.4 billion for non-renewable sources and $270.3 million for windfarms. These projects will be distributed in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia.

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