11 December 2007 - Jean David Bilé, general manager of AES Sonel, has confirmed the creation of a new electricity generation company for Cameroon, named Kribi Power Development Company (KPDC).

The announcement was made after the signing of a loan between AES and five local banks at Douala recently. The five banks who are part of the loan agreement are Standard Chattered Bank, Afriland First Bank, BICEC, ECOBANK, and Crédit Agricole SCB Cameroun.

KPDC will be owned by both AES Corp and the government of Cameroon. AES will have a majority shareholding of 56%.

KPDC will also be responsible for transmission (both local and import) of electricity. However, AES Sonel has an exclusive agreement for electricity distribution in Cameroon, and as such, all power produced by KPDC will be sold to AES for distribution.

Two projects have already been earmarked by the company - a 88MW thermal power plant (heavy fuel) at Dibamba and a 150MW gas thermal plant at Kribi.

Asked why the current management of AES Sonel were starting KPDC, Mr Bilé said that the original agreement signed between AES Sonel and the Cameroon government, limited maximum power production capacity to 1 000MW.

The company's generation capacity currently stands at 721MW of hydro generation and 212 MW of thermal generation - putting their current capacity at 933MW.

The proposed plant at Dibamba would exceed the agreed maximum limit imposed by the Cameroon government and as such, it was agreed to form another company for the Dibamba and Kribi power plants with a total capacity of 238MW.