Power Profits

July 2, 2007 (LBO) – Problems at Sri Lanka's Kelanitissa thermal power station partly offset strong first quarter 2007 profit growth of AES Corporation of the US, the company has reported. AES Corporation revenues increased 11% to 3.1 billion dollars compared to 2.8 billion dollars for the first quarter of 2006, while net cash from operating activities increased 14% to 581 million dollars compared to 509 million dollars last year.

"Asia Generation revenue increased by 18 million dollars to 212 million dollars, primarily due to higher volume in Pakistan and an outage at Ras Laffan in Qatar in 2006, partially offset by lower volumes in Sri Lanka," a company statement said.

"Gross margin decreased by 5 million dollars to 58 million dollars, primarily due to lower volumes in Sri Lanka and higher planned maintenance costs at Barka in Oman."

Technical problems with AES Corp's Kelanitissa unit, an Independent Power Producer (IPP) that operates a combined cycle base load plant, had kept it off the grid at the height of the dry season in recent weeks.

Generators at the Ceylon Electricity Board's Kelanitissa thermal complex had been frequently tripping during the last two months