San Diego Company make inroads to wind power in Serbia

When San Diego based Green Star Alternative Energy (OTC: GSAE.PK) formed a joint venture with Serbian wind farm and power trading company Notos, the Green Star/Notos JV, it became the first and only company with the ability to develop and export wind power in Serbia, attracting attention from major international wind players and market analysts.

The connection with Notos comes courtesy of its recently appointed CEO and President Miodrag (Mike) Andric, who is the founder of Notos in Serbia. GSAE describes itself as a demand driven eco-energy company that is evaluating wind energy developments in Europe, U.S and China. It is currently pursuing projects to develop more than 300 megawatts of wind energy.

It became listed on the OTC just this month and recent developments spurred analyst firm Beacon Equity to give it a speculative buy rating with a target price of $5.70. Ludlow Energy Ventures has gone further than Beacon Equity, upgrading its rating of GSAE to a speculative A- rating and a target price of $8 per share. It is currently trading at $0.65.

Ludlow analysts based their rating on the fact that it is expanding in Serbia and projected revenues for 2010 are in the range of $10.8 million. The ratings take into consideration the current robust demand for wind energy and the tremendous market opportunity to develop wind power in Serbia, which is eminently suited for generating energy from wind, with wind speeds averaging 4 m/s.

Recent milestones include signing a cooperative agreement with wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa to develop prospective wind power facilities; forming the joint venture with Notos, which gives it access to Serbia; several projects for which negotiations are under way and two confirmed projects in Serbia - the Bela Blato wind project, which will be Serbia's first source of wind energy (Notos is developing it), generating 20 megawatts and acting as a source of livelihood for the local community in the province of Vojvodina; and a very recent announcement this week about a contract to explore and develop wind energy for the municipality of Veliko Gradiste, which is 100 kilometers east of capital city Belgrade.

Earlier this year, GE Energy executives and Green Star met in Belgrade to discuss the possibility of developing future wind projects in Serbia. Green Star also plans to pursue several avenues for revenue, by selling greenhouse gas emission credits from its projects such as the Bela Blato project; selling wheat from the produce farms located on its wind sites and trading in power on the market.