The power plant consists of two projects located on the same site in the Lazio region. The first project is 24MW and was connected to the grid in November 2009. The second project is approximately 9MW and is currently under construction for completion in August 2010.
Both projects are ground-based solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants and use SunPower’s PV modules and single axis tracker technology.
The 24MW project benefits from the 2009 feed-in-tariff of EUR0.353 per kWh plus a market price of approximately EUR0.08 per kWh. The 9MW project is expected to benefit from the 2010 feed-in-tariff of EUR0.346 per kWh plus a market price of approximately EUR0.08 per kWh.
The acquisition of the 24MW project has been completed. The acquisition of the 9MW project remains subject to standard closing conditions and is expected to close by September 30, 2010. Etrion is funding the acquisition through a bridge loan from its major shareholder, Lundin Petroleum.
Marco Northland, CEO of Etrion, said: “This acquisition more than triples the size of our company in terms of installed capacity and cash flow and makes us one of the major solar power producers in Italy. We expect to exit 2010 with almost 50MW in operation and more than 150MW in pipeline for future development.”
The Italian feed-in-tariff is a premium purchase price for renewable electricity that is guaranteed by the government for 20 years from the start of operations.
