The Nikkei Weekly (Japan)
February 21, 2005 Monday

Armenia in line for green power plant

Shimizu Corp. intends to team up with Mitsui & Co. and Hokkaido
Electric Power Co. to start a greenhouse-gas emission rights business
in Armenia.

The major general contractor hopes the joint operation will be
approved as a clean-development-mechanism (CDM) business under the
terms of the Kyoto Protocol. The system allows companies to gain
greenhouse-gas emission rights in exchange for cooperating in efforts
to reduce emissions in developing countries.

If the project is approved, it will be the first CDM business in
Armenia. Shimizu expects to get the green light by the middle of the
year.

Under the plan, Shimizu will build a power generation plant in
Armenia to produce electricity from methane gas piped in from a waste
material disposal site. The company plans to spend about 800 million
yen on the project.