Ekibastuz GRES-1

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The plants were acquired by AES (80%) and Suntree Ltd (20%) in 1996 for US$2 million with an agreement to invest a further US$500 million. A 35-year PPA was signed with local electricity supplier, Kazakhstanenergo and the electricity purchase price set at $0.03/KWh. The power station burns low-grade coal from a nearby mine and ran at a mere 20% of capacity prior to the divestiture. Future investment is intended to increase utilisation to 63%. Total cost of rehabilitation is estimated at $1.5bn. By end of 1998, the investment of Ekibastuz GRES-1 since its privatization was estimated in US$70 million. The plant is comprised of eight 500 MW turbines, four of which were manufactured in Kharkov and four in St. Petersburg. Construction of the facility began in 1979 and the last block was installed in 1984. The plant was 100% owned by AES as of December 2002. On May 30, 2008, AES announced that it had completed the sale of its interest in the Ekibastuz power plant as well as the Maikuben coal mine to Kazakhmys PLC [United Kingdom] for gross proceeds of US$1.1 billion. Kazakhmys was owned by the Kazakh government (15%), stock exchange investors (39%) and individual investors (46%). Samruk-Kazyna acquired 50% of the project company in 2010. Samruk-Kazyna officially known as the National Welfare Fund "Samruk-Kazyna", was a joint stock company in Kazakhstan which owns, either in whole or in part, many important companies in the country, including the national rail and postal service, the state oil and gas company KazMunayGas, the state uranium company Kazatomprom, Air Astana, and numerous financial groups. AES was to contine to manage and operate the Ekibastuz plant under a management contract valued at up to US$381 million. The management contract was due to expire on Dec. 31, 2010. In March 2009, AES and Kazakhmys announced an agreement to conclude the management contract early, involving an earn out of $80 million for the financial year 2008, payable in April 2009, and a single reduced payment of $102 million to be paid in January 2010.