Wind Energy

Wind energy in Angola: EDP wants to build wind farm

The chief executive of Portuguese power company EDP said Friday in Lisbon that the company would be involved in wind farm and dam projects in Angola this year, as part of EDP’s plan to expand to other countries.

According to a report from Portuguese news agency Lusa, António Mexia, who was speaking at the annual EDP press conference in Lisbon said that the company had, “news in the Angolan market for 2012, in which we are minority investors,” namely in, “wind farms and new hydro projects.”

However, the chairman of EDP noted that everything depended on the, “legal and regulatory framework,” that countries like Angola still don’t have: “The majority of these markets need a legal and regulatory framework and oftentimes it is much slower than we, or they, would like.”

Mexia also said that the African market, which includes Angola, was part of EDP’s expansion strategy into new geographical areas and was in line with what had been agreed with the group’s new shareholder, China Three Gorges (CTG).

“There is a policy of co-investment between China Three Gorges and EDP and EDP will be a majority shareholder in Latin America and CTG a majority shareholder in Asia,” and in Africa, “this will be case by case based on who carries out the investment,” he said.

EDP posted profit in 2011 of 1.125 billion euros, which was 4 percent higher than the previous year, which is the Portuguese company’s best ever year.

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