TECHNOLOGY DECISIONS BASED ON REGIONAL NEED
When considering new development opportunities, ContourGlobal looks beyond what’s been done before in a region to understand what that region really needs. In Colombia, for example, reliability can become a critical concern when water shortages cause hydroelectric generating capacity to fall short of electricity demand. Adding another hydroelectric plant wouldn’t have aided reliability, so we turned to natural gas. The plant we acquired in Cali is now among the top three in the country in both fuel efficiency and reliability. (Read more about the Termoemcali plant.)
SUSTAINABLE DESIGNS USING EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE
Using existing construction is almost always a greener alternative to building new, and that’s the approach we took when developing the Markala hydroelectric project in Mali. An irrigation dam built in 1947 across the Niger River was identified as a potential hydroelectric resource in a 2009 study funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Mali government called on our expertise to determine the best way to implement the study’s recommendations. Scheduled for commercial operation in 2012, the new 10 MW installation will include three turbines installed in one of the dam’s 14 existing sluice gates. The remaining sluice gates will not be modified and the existing fish ladder will be retained, along with an existing navigation channel. (Read more about the Markala project.)
RESULTS WORTHY OF RECOGNITION
We have been recognized by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for our ability to work closely with governments and communities across the globe in an ethical and transparent fashion. This organization, a U.S. government finance institution providing support for emerging-market development, has been a ContourGlobal partner in a number of our projects.
“ContourGlobal has proven to be an important asset for the realization of OPIC’s clean energy goals. The projects OPIC has undertaken with ContourGlobal—in emerging markets such as Nigeria and Eastern Europe—are generating power and recovering large percentages of carbon dioxide, improving the energy efficiency of their facilities. OPIC has calculated net CO2 reduction across all ContourGlobal Solutions facilities supported by OPIC at more than 200,000 tons per year—a clean energy outcome that OPIC is proud of.”
— OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield