Building new capacity to energize southeast Europe, providing access to electricity in Cameroon and Ukraine, conducting intense peer reviews plant by plant to surface best practices, moving aggressively into wind generation—the activities of our people across Europe, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and Africa are as diverse as the region.

This complex region contains some of the most developed countries in the world, as well as countries that are just on the cusp of rapid economic expansion. AES’s presence in the region began with our acquisition of the coal-fired AES Kilroot power plant in Northern Ireland in 1992, and today extends from Spain in western Europe, to Cameroon in west Africa to Kazakhstan in the CIS.

We know how to effectively operate in this region's diverse markets. Our integrated utility in Cameroon, AES SONEL, is the only source of electricity for the country and has introduced reliable power to communities that never had it before. In Kazakhstan, we have gone from accepting payment in barter when we first entered the country in 1996, to helping develop a growing economy powered by reliable, affordable heat and electricity. Today, AES operates four power plants, manages two distribution businesses and a heating company in Kazakhstan.

AES continues to expand our vital role in the region. In 2006, we began full commercial operation of our first power plant in Spain, a 1,200 MW gas-fired power plant in Cartagena. We are building a 670 MW lignite-fired power plant in Bulgaria, the first large-scale plant to be built in that country in decades and the single-largest foreign investment in Bulgaria to date.  In 2006, AES also acquired majority control of 640 MW of wind generation projects under development throughout Scotland—one of the fastest growing and most attractive wind generation markets in Europe—and minority stakes in more than 700 MW of wind projects under development in France and Bulgaria.
  
A Global Presence
Peer-to-peer reviews generate best practices
In AES's Europe, CIS and Africa region, best practices are often spread through a peer-to-peer review program, which brings teams of AES Plant Managers to various facilities in the region to review plant operations.
  • Europe, CIS & Africa Generation 2008 revenues: approximately $1,160 million
  • Europe, CIS & Africa Utilities 2008 revenues: approximately $782 million