Coca-Cola HBC Opens Cogeneration Pwr Plant In S Romania

The plant was build in partnership with power company ContourGlobal and is located at Coca-Cola Hellenic's bottling facility in Ploiesti.

The construction of the plant in southern Romania follows a pilot-project developed in Hungary in 2006.

A second similar plant is currently being developed in Timisoara, western Romania, and will begin operations next year. Coca-Cola HBC plans to open 15 similar units in the company's production facilities in Europe and Africa.

In addition, Coca-Cola HBC opened a new storage facility in Ploiesti. The investment in both the cogeneration plant and the storage facility totals EUR45 million.

The plant in Ploiesti uses clean natural gas to generate electricity and captures the heat emanating from the engine to provide additional energy that is used in the bottling plant, a company statement said.

By capturing heat that otherwise would be wasted, the new power plant substantially increases the efficiency of the bottling process while at the same time significantly lowering carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, ContourGlobal's plant captures more than 95% of its carbon dioxide emissions for use in industrial and commercial processes.

The two companies announced to open another three similar plants this year.

Coca-Cola HBC is the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Europe.

The sales of Coca-Cola HBC in Romania dropped in volume in the second quarter by around 5%, due to the negative effects of the economic crisis and lower consumer expenses.

Coca-Cola HBC Romania owns four factories, respectively in the cities of Iasi, Timisoara, Ploiesti and Vatra Dornei, after closing down last year its unit in Oradea. The activity of the factory in Iasi will relocated in the Moldova Republic.

ContourGlobal develops and operates electric and combined heat and power businesses around the world.

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