Aspiring power generation company Aviva Corporation Ltd has appointed former Western Power managing director Tony Iannello as its chairman.
Aspiring power generation company Aviva Corporation Ltd has appointed former Western Power managing director Tony Iannello as its chairman.
Mr Iannello will bring to Aviva considerable experience in the energy and finance sectors, and replaces Mr Peter French who has retired from the Board after six years as Chairman. The appointment is effective immediately.
Until April 2006, Mr Iannello was Managing Director and CEO of Western Power, the state-owned power utility in Western Australia.
In this role Mr Iannello oversaw the disaggregation of the utility into separate generation, retail and network entities.
Prior to this he held senior management positions with Bankwest, including General Manager of Corporate Service and Finance, and Head of Strategic Planning.
Mr Iannello said Aviva was strategically positioned to supply power and fuel to very tight electricity markets through projects in WA and southern Africa.
Aviva is currently developing Coolimba Power, a 400MW integrated energy project at Eneabba in WA.
In Botswana, Aviva is studying a 1,500MW integrated energy project at Mmamantswe and considering the potential for direct coal sales to export markets.
In WA the state-owned generator, Verve has flagged the need for a significant tariff increase in 2009.
"Energy reform in WA means that the market is now open to new players such as Aviva, which allows the benefits of healthy competition in the state energy market," Mr Iannello said.
In South Africa, the incumbent state-owned generator, Eskom, is experiencing coal shortages and is calling for a 53%tariff increase.
In the short term, Aviva is focused on finalizing the preferred equipment supplier for the Coolimba project, and commencing a reserve upgrade drilling and test work program at Mmamantswe.
The Board would like to extend its gratitude to Mr French and wish him well in his retirement.
Mr French assumed the chairmanship at a difficult time in the Company's history and participated in a recapitalisation of the company in 2002.
Since that time Aviva has established a platform for growth as an integrated energy company and increased its market capitalisation from $A1 million to $100 million.
About the Company:
Aviva is an integrated energy company listed on both the Australian Stock Exchange and Botswana Stock Exchange with its head office in Perth.
The company is growing a portfolio of integrated energy assets. Aviva's most advanced asset is the Coolimba Power project in Western Australia.
The Coolimba Power Project will be on the Central West Coal project and is ideally located in the northern half of the SWIS power grid to take advantage of demand growth both in the SWIS and from new resource projects in the Mid West Region.
The location has the advantage of low cost fuel, available water, adjacent infrastructure, existing mining lease and freehold land. Coolimba will be a 400MW base load generator employing leading emissions technology for water, sulphur and carbon dioxide.
Aviva is earning a 90% interest in the Mmamantswe project in Botswana where it has outlined a 1.3 billion tonne coal resource.
