Europlasma Announces Final Acceptance (FA) of the CHO Morcenx Plant

BORDEAUX, France, June 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The agreed criteria for the Final Acceptance of the CHO Morcenx plant have been validated and commercial operations are starting.

This is a key milestone for the plant and for all upcoming CHO Power projects:

1.  Securing FA demonstrates the plant's ability to produce electricity on a commercial scale at its nominal capacity of 10MWe. As this development phase has been completed, CHO Morcenx is now entering its commercial production phase. The teams will now be able to maximize the long-term economic profitability of the plant in accordance with an optimization plan, which includes adjusting standard operating procedures for commercial operations.

2. Given CHO Morcenx is the world's first plant of its type operating at a commercial scale, CHO Power can now capitalize on this success to deploy its pipeline of new projects.

3. The revenues generated by CHO Morcenx's electricity generation should benefit the Europlasma Group's cash position, thus encouraging the growth of its other business activities.

In November 2015, the FAR (Final Acceptance with Reserves) confirmed the plant's capacity to produce synthetic gas in sufficient quantity and quality to generate 10 MWe of renewable electricity. These reserves concerned the necessary improvements to the environmental and aesthetic standards of the site installation, as well as the new engines and their optimal operation alongside the turbine:

• Satisfied with the progress of the work, the authorities have not retained any environmental elements which could hinder commercial operations and, as such, the aesthetic and environmental reserves issued in 2015 have been lifted.

• Regarding the engines, at the end of a post-acceptance verification phase of the GE Jenbacher engines, the CHO Morcenx plant operated in full configuration for 14 days without interruption. The two GE Jenbacher engines and the turbine operated together for over 96 hours cumulatively in the various required configuration phases. Over this period, the plant produced more than 1,200 MWh with power peaks exceeding 7.5 MWe. In agreement with the customer, these tests were carried out without the two original Caterpillar engines (commissioned in 2015 and having a cumulated capacity of 2 MWe). The conditions of use of the Caterpillar engines will be evaluated in the context of the optimization plan, allowing an increase in the total current power under the most favorable economic and financial conditions.

Following the FA milestone, the Europlasma Group will implement in the coming months an active value-creation strategy for CHO Morcenx, the development of CHO Power pipeline, and the various other key projects carried out by the Group.

Jean-Eric Petit, Managing Director of Europlasma, said: "Today marks a major milestone in the history of our Group. Having led Europlasma for over three years, I am very proud of the achievement of this FA and wish to congratulate and associate our teams to this success. Now that CHO Morcenx is able to operate at its nominal capacity, we will continue to improve its power and maximize the profitability of this new type of power plant. This success gives our plasma technology significant development prospects, both for CHO Power and for the other subsidiaries of the Group ".

About EUROPLASMA

At the heart of environmental issues, Europlasma designs and develops innovative plasma solutions for renewable energy generation and hazardous waste recovery, as well as related applications for multi-sector companies wishing to reduce their environmental footprint.

Europlasma is listed on Alternext (FR0000044810-ALEUP). For more information: www.europlasma.com

Shareholders contact :
Anne BORDERES - Communication Manger
Tel: + 33(0)5-56-49-70-00 - contactbourse@europlasma.com 
Investors & Financial Analysts : contactbourse@europlasma.com

Press contact :
Luc PERINET MARQUET - LPM STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
Tel: +33(0)1-44-50-40-35 - lperinet@lpm-corporate.com

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SOURCE Europlasma