SunRay Secures Funding For Italian PV Plant
SunRay has secured project financing for the construction of a 24MW plant at Montalto di Castro, located approximately 100km north of Rome in the province of Viterbo (region of Lazio). This is Italy's largest photovoltaic power plant to date and SunRay intends to expand the site to 100MW by the end of 2010. Construction began on this project in February 2009 and the first phase of 24MW will be connected to the grid by the end of 2009.
The project financing was signed on 17th September and financial close occurred on 24th September 2009 for an amount of €120m - one of the largest PV project finance deals closed in Europe this year. The borrower is Cassiopea PV S.r.l., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Ray Italy Holding S.r.l. The lending banks are Banca Infrastructture Innovazione e Sviluppo (MLA and Insurance Bank), Société Générale (MLA, Coordination and Documentation Bank) and WestLB AG (MLA, Technical and Modelling Bank). MLA stands for Mandated Lead Arranger. The banks also provided Cassiopea with the hedging coverage against interest rates fluctuations. The project also involved the leading Italian credit insurer SACE as MLA, joint documentation and partial guarantor of the Société Générale tranche. The project structure includes the co sharing of the substation owner's side) with other project companies within the Sunray group. This structure, including agreements reached with the high voltage grid operator Terna in relation to the substation's operation, is the first of its kind realised in Italy in the solar sector.
Successful permitting, partial construction and project financing of the Montalto project validates SunRay's community based development model. SunRay Italy worked closely with all relevant authorities at the commune, province and regional level to ensure that the project design was in line with the community's needs. SunRay selected a number of skilled local contractors to help build this plant and over 200 local workers are currently employed on the construction site.
“Since the beginning of our government we have set environmental policies, development and implementation of renewable energy projects as a top priority of our agenda” affirmed the President of Region Lazio, Mr. Piero Marrazzo. “Therefore we have invested about 263 million euro, a quarter of the overall regional funds for environment, on renewable sources and photovoltaic in particular, passing from 1 MW produced in 2005 to 38 MW currently available and expected to increase to 100 MW within 2009”, explained President Marrazzo. “The Montalto di Castro PV power plant represents a true outstanding achievement and is to be regarded as a tangible proof of our efforts in making Lazio a ‘green' Region.”
“We are enormously pleased that the first phase of this big PV plant in Montalto will be connected soon” explained the Mayor of Montalto di Castro, Salvatore Carai. “This plant will significantly contribute to the reduction of pollutant emissions, thereby improving environmental quality at both local and national level. We have created hundreds of jobs which have brought significant social, cultural and tourism benefits to the entire community.”
“In addition to delivering commercial benefits to the community, Montalto di Castro is designed to integrate seamlessly into the surrounding countryside and to preserve the local ecosystem,” said Giora Salita, Head of Business Development for SunRay Group. “We have chosen suppliers with unrivalled global experience in PV plant construction and technology so that the finished project will become the pride of the local community today and for many generations in the future."
