ATLAS Developments will participate in a US$2.5 billion power plant project in Shanxi province, believed to be the largest venture of its type involving an Australian company.
Under an agreement struck last week, Shanxi Electric Power Co (SEPC) has teamed with Atlas and Guangdong's Jilida Corp to build phase II of the Shentou No 2 power station.
While the shareholding has yet to be decided, SEPC is willing to be senior partner and procure the Chinese government guarantees necessary for project funding.
Ian Mackay of Control Risks Pacific, security consultant for the project, said Altas and Jilida would act as developers, arrange finance and participate in equity.
Shentou No 2 was identified as one of the country's key projects in the Seventh Five-Year Plan spanning from 1985.
With installed capacity of two 500 megawatt generators, its total investment stands at 1.49 billion yuan (about HK$2 billion at the official rate).
Mr Mackay said 36 per cent of the electricity from the project would be supplied to the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan power grid.
