SHANGHAI, May 6 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Covanta Energy Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Covanta Holding Corporation (NYSE: CVA), today announced that it has taken an 85 percent stake in a joint venture with Jiangzu Taineng Group Ltd. to build a new Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facility to serve the cities of Taixing and Yangzhong with a total project value of US$30 million. The investment is part of the company's ongoing strategy to expand its presence in China.
Covanta, which has secured long-term waste disposal contracts with the municipal governments of Taixing and Yangzhong, will build the new 350 metric ton per day facility in the Taixing Economic Development Zone and generate 30 metric tons per hour of steam to power local businesses' operations. The new plant will be built adjacent to Covanta and Jiangzu Taineng Group's existing joint-venture, a cogeneration power plant. Jiangzu Taineng Group is wholly-owned by the municipal government of Taixing and operates under the supervision of Taixing Economic and Trade Commission.
"The development of this Energy-from-Waste facility has obvious advantages for both cities' sustainable growth. Not only will it generate clean, renewable energy to help power regional businesses, it will help the local environment. By processing waste into energy, the facility's operations will provide safe solid waste disposal for both communities, help to avoid reliance on damaging landfills, and offset greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise be generated by landfills," said Allard M. Nooy, President of Covanta Energy Asia Pacific. "This effort will also result in zero landfilling, a major accomplishment, as the residual ash from the process will be reused in materials for road construction."
Construction of the Energy-from-Waste facility is expected to begin this summer and be completed by June 2011.
"The Taixing city committee and government will give priority and full support to this project to ensure that we can start construction, begin operations, and see results quickly and create a win-win situation for the citizens of both communities and Covanta," said Gao Yazi, Mayor of Taixing. "Covanta Energy and the City of Taixing already have a good foundation for cooperation and the Energy-from-Waste facility is a new platform for further collaboration, which we are confident will succeed in helping us achieve our sustainability goals."
The amount of household waste produced in China has grown as the country's standard of living has improved. China generates an estimated 280 million tons of municipal solid waste annually, most of which is currently being disposed of in simple and unsophisticated landfills. The Chinese Ministry of Construction has outlined a National Waste Disposal Plan to increase Energy-from-Waste from 2005 levels of less than 2 percent of waste disposal to 30 percent of total municipal solid waste disposal by 2030.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking" statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act"), Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"), the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "PSLRA") or in releases made by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), all as may be amended from time to time. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Covanta and its subsidiaries, or general industry or broader economic performance in domestic and international markets in which Covanta operates or competes, to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by, among other things, the use of forward-looking language, such as the words "plan," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "project," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "seeks," or "scheduled to," or other similar words, or the negative of these terms or other variations of these terms or comparable language, or by discussion of strategy or intentions. These cautionary statements are being made pursuant to the Securities Act, the Exchange Act and the PSLRA with the intention of obtaining the benefits of the "safe harbor" provisions of such laws. Covanta cautions investors that any forward-looking statements made by Covanta are not guarantees or indicative of future performance. Important assumptions and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements with respect to Covanta, include, but are not limited to, those factors, risks and uncertainties that are described in periodic securities filings by Covanta with the SEC. Although Covanta believes that its plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from a projection or assumption in any forward-looking statements. Covanta's future financial condition and results of operations, as well as any forward-looking statements, are subject to change and inherent risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date hereof and Covanta does not have or undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by law.
About Covanta
Covanta Holding Corporation is an internationally recognized owner and operator of large-scale Energy-from-Waste and renewable energy projects and a recipient of the Energy Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Covanta's 38 Energy-from-Waste facilities provide communities with an environmentally sound solution to their solid waste disposal needs by using that municipal solid waste to generate clean, renewable energy. Annually, Covanta's modern Energy-from-Waste facilities safely and securely convert approximately 16 million tons of waste into more than 8 million megawatt hours of clean renewable electricity and create 10 billion pounds of steam that are sold to a variety of industries. For more information, visit http://www.covantaholding.com .
