Utrecht, Tuesday 27 November 2007 - Today EcoPower Bonaire BV, a consortium of Evelop, Enercon and MAN has signed the contract with the Water and Energy Company of Bonaire (WEB NV) to build a combined wind bio diesel system, comprising 13 wind turbines and a bio diesel power plant. In the future Bonaire will be the first Caribbean island that will run entirely on sustainable electricity. The complete system will be able to provide the whole island with electricity by mid 2009. The first wind turbine has been completed five months ago and now has come fully into operation. This also illustrates the start of the rest of the project.

The first wind turbine was built earlier this year to gain experience with wind energy on Bonaire and to reduce the electricity costs in the short term. It has now been operational for nearly five months. During the first months the turbine performed beyond expectation. With the new system the costs of the electricity production will be lower than the costs of the present fossil fuel based system.

Wind and bio diesel energy supply
The total project is scheduled to be completed in the 2nd quarter of 2009. The next 12 new wind turbines will be built on the north-east coast of Bonaire, the windward side of the island. Each turbine can produce 0.8 – 0.9 MW, so ideally the wind farm alone could meet all of Bonaire’s current demands for electricity. The new bio diesel power plant (13 MW) will be constructed at the northwest corner of Bonaire near the so-called BOPEC site. In the beginning the plant will burn fossil diesel. The first experiments with Bio diesel from algae are being carried out on Bonaire, the expectation is that the plant will start burning bio fuels after two or three years of operation. This project is illustrative of Econcern’s mission: ‘a sustainable energy supply for everyone’.

EcoPower Bonaire is the owner and operator of the wind bio diesel system, employing a local staff for management and operation. Evelop will be the majority shareholder of EcoPower Bonaire, while ENERCON and MAN will be minority shareholders.

Evelop is, as the main contractor, responsible for management and co-ordination (including local support), financial engineering, contracting and financing. ENERCON will be the supplier of the wind turbines and responsible for the installation of the wind turbines. MAN is the turnkey supplier of the heavy fuel diesel power plant and responsible for the installation and maintenance of the diesel power plant.

Evelop (www.evelop.com)
Evelop is part of the Econcern group, whose mission is: ‘a sustainable energy supply for everyone’. Her ambition as the sustainable energy project developer is to develop and realise one of the largest portfolios of renewable energy assets worldwide. Evelop is involved in project fields such as; offshore and onshore wind, biomass, solar energy as well as seawater air conditioning and also the development of sustainable energy utility buildings, private housing and infrastructure.
The Econcern group employs about 900 professionals in 19 countries across the world and is one of the 500 fastest growing companies in Europe.