AES: Providing reliable and affordable power; preparing for a sustainable energy future

Did you know that AES Bulgaria is part of a global company that provides energy to customers in 15 countries worldwide?

The AES Corporation, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, employs 9,000 people and manages global energy assets with a value of $33 billion. Every day we strive to provide reliable and affordable access to power for our customers worldwide while working towards a sustainable energy future.

What does that mean in practice? It means that we are making the most of those $33 billion assets in power generation, distribution and storage to meet our customers’ needs in the ever-changing markets in which we operate, while stepping up preparations for a low-carbon future.

The AES Corporation recently increased the target for reducing its carbon intensity to 70% by 2030 compared to an earlier reduction target of 50%. We are doing this by gradually replacing our thermal power assets with renewable generation, mainly from wind and solar power.

One way in which we continue to meet our customers’ needs while making a transition to lower-carbon supplies is our “Green Blend and Extend” program. We offer customers whose electricity is generated by conventional fuels the chance to switch renewable sources. As energy from renewables is becoming cheaper, this offers savings to customers. In return, we ask our customers to extend the length of contracts to help us finance the additional investment required for renewable generation.

The “Green Blend and Extend” program is one example of where we are combining established and new energy technologies to deliver solutions that meet our customers’ financial requirements and those of the global energy transition.

We have more examples of this approach from across the world. In Panama, we have built a 350 MW gas-fired plant and are building a 170,000 m3 storage tank for liquefied natural gas (LNG). The LNG facility plant will allow customers to stop using more expensive heavy fuel oil and contribute to improving local air quality. In Vietnam, The AES Corporation has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PetroVietnam Gas to build a LNG terminal and pave the way for the construction of efficient natural gas combined cycle power plants.

The AES Corporation is also an industry leader in battery-based storage systems which will play an increasingly important role as more power comes from renewable energy sources. We have partnered with Siemens in the joint venture Fluence to combine our companies’ expertise in energy management and battery technology to better meet customers’ needs. Fluence has one of the largest battery storage fleets in the world and serves customers in 17 countries worldwide.

On the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, The AES Corporation has installed a 28 MW solar power system with a 100 MWh energy storage system that will help Hawaii meet its goal of obtaining 100% of its energy from renewables by 2045. The system stores electricity generated during the day and releases it on demand. As a result, the island’s power system runs on more than 50% renewables. The project will save 3.7 million gallons of diesel annually.

The AES Corporation has long been at the forefront of innovation by applying technologies to solve our industry’s toughest challenges, as well as deliver superior customer experience. Today, we’re focused on digitizing AES to serve our customers’ needs now and into the future. Digitalization will, for example, enable the roll-out of efficient and intelligent energy platforms. We have acquired Simple Energy, a US-based company that helps customers improve their energy efficiency.

We are also partnering with Google to take our performance to the next level and benefit from their cloud platform and machine learning technology. The work that we’re doing together allows us to take the data we’re collecting about our power generation facilities and quickly turn it into insights that enable us to optimize how we use our infrastructure.

We are also a leading user of drones for inspections of our facilities. For example, drones can look into cooling towers while plants are still operating, check wind turbine blades remotely or inspect solar panels. This helps keep our people out of harm’s way by reducing the human exposure during maintenance activities while enhancing business efficiency.

Here at AES we are proud to be building on our expertise and experience in the energy sector to continue to service our customers’ needs while working for the global energy transition.