Construction Update For Italian Job
Etrion Corporation, a Canadian energy company, has announced an update on the construction of its initial 4 megawatt (MW) solar power project in Puglia, Italy.
Etrion's Vice President of Engineering and Construction, Fernando Alvarez-Bolado, said, "SunPower has begun construction on three of the four sites in our 4 MW Puglia project. Two of the sites have the panels already mounted on the trackers, and SunPower is now advancing the electrical installations. Civil works are nearly completed on the third site, and we will begin installation of the PV modules during May. We look forward to finishing construction and connecting to the grid later this year."
Last year, Etrion contracted SunPower, a US-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar systems, to build four solar power plants totalling 4 MW in the Puglia region of southern Italy. SunPower is designing and constructing the plants, and will provide operations and maintenance services. The first electricity sales from the plants are expected during the third quarter of 2010.
SunPower is installing proprietary SunPower Tracker technology at the Italian sites. The Tracker follows the sun during the day and delivers up to 25 percent more energy than fixed-tilt systems, while significantly reducing land use requirements. The ground-based solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants, once built, will generate approximately 6.8 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year.
The project is expected to benefit from the 2010 Italian feed-in-tariff of 0.346 Euros per kWh plus the spot rate of approximately 0.08 Euros per kWh. The Italian feed-in-tariff is a premium purchase price for renewable electricity that is guaranteed by the Italian government for 20 years. Once fully operational, the plants are expected to generate 2.8 million Euros of revenue and approximately 2.4 million Euros of cash flow (EBITDA) per year. The project also benefits from the "Visco Sud" tax credit, which is worth an aggregate of 4.1 million Euros and does not expire.
The plants have a facility agreement with Centrobanca, an Italian bank, for 83% of project costs or approximately 17.2 million Euros. Etrion contributed the remaining 17% of project costs in equity from cash on hand.
