Coca-Cola becomes energy producer

The Romanian Coca-Cola producer, which has slashed cost by closing four factories and by outsourcing distribution in the past two years, has completed the construction of an automated storage facility and of an electricity and heat cogeneration facility in Ploiesti on Wednesday, which it says will bring further cost cuts, but on longer term. The cogeneration facility will service the Ploiesti production facility and has an installed capacity of 6 MW per hour. The bottler therefore becomes an electricity and thermal power generator in the wake of a 16 million-euro investment. “This year we have taken care of every euro under our management. The investments completed today in Ploiesti will result in diminished costs,” Calin Dragan, general manager of Coca-Cola Hellenic for Romania and the Republic of Moldova, said on Wednesday, at the launch of the Ploiesti plant.