Solar project developer SunEdison announced the sale of a 70-MW photovoltaic (PV) power plant located in Northeast Italy, for approximately EUR 276 million.
When completed in 4Q10, the plant–located near the town of Rovigo–is expected to be the largest operating solar power plant in Europe.
First Reserve acquired power plant through its previously announced joint venture established with SunEdison. SunEdison is a minority investor in the joint venture. Investment programs managed by Partners Group AG and Perennius Capital Partners SGR are also expected to co-invest in the project with the First Reserve joint venture.
As part of the project acquisition, First Reserve made an initial payment of EUR 46 million to SunEdison, with the balance to be paid upon interconnection of the plant. First Reserve expects to close the long-term project debt financing for the project in 4Q10.
SunEdison and Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) jointly developed and co-owned the Rovigo plant prior to this sale.
After the sale, SunEdison will manage the ongoing operations and maintenance of the Rovigo plant.
Texas Project
SunEdison also announced its first utility scale solar deployment in Texas
through a contract with CPS Energy, the nation’s largest municipally
owned energy utility.
SunEdison will build, own, and operate three
solar generation facilities within the CPS Energy services territory
totaling 30 megawatts (MW). The SunEdison facilities will help CPS
Energy achieve a renewable energy target of 20% of total generation
capacity. Construction is expected to start in 2011.
SunEdison is a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR).
JPMorgan Funding
Last week SunEdison also announced an agreement with JPMorgan Capital Corporation to fund an estimated $60 million in project financing for solar projects in key markets in the United States.
The JPMorgan commitment will be funded through SunE Solar Fund X and used to help fund numerous megawatts of solar deployments for both commercial and government projects. This is the first distributed generation solar program for JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM).
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