Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, USA, March 30^th, 2012 – Bridgestone Associates, Ltd (www.brdgstn.com) announced today that it had suspended its work on the development and design of a 10 megawatt power plant in the Republic of Mali due to the recent coup d’état in the Republic.  Bridgestone Associates has been working on this project since entering into an agreement in 2008 with Orion Energy (Mali) Inc., a subsidiary of Orion Energy, Inc. The suspension is expected to be temporary.

“This is a very interesting project in a remote and extremely poor part of the world,” said Martin Anderson, President of Bridgestone Associates, Ltd.  “Unfortunately its development has suffered from a number of delays and this recent political upheaval in the country will not help.  However there has been no change in the need for the energy output of this new generating plant in Mopti, so we continue to be positive about the project and anticipate resuming development as soon as the current political issues within the country have been resolved.”

About the Project

The planned 10MW plant will provide power to the City of Mopti, the third largest city in Mali, a landlocked West African country on the edge of the Sahara Desert.  Currently Mopti, which is isolated from Mali’s main high voltage grid system serving the capital Bamako, receives power from a small diesel-fired power station connected to the local distribution grid.  The planned Orion Energy plant will replace the existing power plant that has suffered from high costs and poor reliability.  The new plant will use Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to fuel large medium speed reciprocating engine generators.

About Bridgestone Associates, Ltd.

Bridgestone Associates, Ltd. is a Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, USA energy consulting and development company focused on the evaluation, development, financing, design, construction and operations of energy production facilities, and on the use and utilization of energy.  The company provides these services to developers and owners of power generating and other energy related projects worldwide, as well as commercial and industrial energy users.

About Orion Energy Inc.

Orion Energy, Inc. is a Washington DC based developer and owner of Independent Power Plants (IPP).  Orion’s primary geographic focus is in West Africa and the African continent.

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