French state controlled power giant Electricite de France SA said that it will invest around EUR 1.8 billion to build a 900 MW coal fired plant in Rybnik, Poland, as part of its strategy to reinforce its activities in Central Europe.

The group said the investment is in line with its 2011-2015 financial guidance as well as part of its objective to bring its total installed power generation capacity to 200 gigawatts by 2020, 25% of which is slated to be derived from fossil fuels.

The plant, which will use "supercritical" technology that reduces carbon emissions compared with standard coal-fired plants, is expected to start operations by 2018.

(Sourced from MarketWatch)