SPF is a renewable energy company sponsored by Sopaf S.p.A., an independent Italian investment company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. SPF’s PV programme is believed to be one of the largest PV investment programmes being undertaken in the Italian market this year, with a total value of up to €80 million. The installations will be carried out through SolGen S.c.a.r.l., a joint venture company formed between Acta and Fedi Impianti S.r.l. ("Fedi Impianti"), one of Italy’s leading specialist PV installation companies.
“We are delighted that our partnership with SPF Energy and Fedi Impianti has resulted in this very substantial scale-up in the PV programme so early in this first year of our joint venture company, SolGen,” said Paolo Bert, Acta Chief Executive. “We are honoured to be part of one of Italy’s largest solar installation initiatives, and further negotiations are continuing both in relation to this investment programme and to other PV installations, which we are confident we will be able to announce in due course.”
In accordance with the Framework Agreement, SolGen has received an advance payment of €1.3 million and is to receive two further advance payments over the period to 9 July 2010, totalling €5.0 million in aggregate. Implementation is to start immediately, with the securing of key materials for installation such as PV panels and inverters. The revenues, costs and profits generated by the joint venture will be shared equally by Acta and Fedi Impianti.
The terms of the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction), O&M (operation & maintenance) and land lease contracts for each installation project within the programme have been agreed between the parties, and are expected to be signed separately for each project following the completion of due diligence over the next two to four weeks. Acta expects to complete up to 10.0 MW (with a value of €30 million) of the Framework Agreement installation programme within 2010, which will be funded through contract stage payments and the financial resources of Acta and Fedi Impianti.
Synergies with hydrogen generation
“Through the installation programme with SPF, SolGen will become a significant new entrant in the Italian PV market, and we believe that the visibility that this programme will create for SolGen will greatly assist us in the further expansion of our PV activities in this year and next,” said Bert, adding that the PV installation market has strong synergies with Acta’s low-cost, scalable, hydrogen generation technology for renewable energy storage. “We are already building our project pipeline for next year, and based on recent Italian government indications of a 10% to 20% reduction in the feed-in tariff for 2011, we expect the market to experience comparable levels of activity next year, when we will be seeking to grow and consolidate our revenues within this key renewable energy sector,” Bert explained.
“The enlargement of the SPF installation contract from €8.8 million to €32.2 million underpins our strong confidence that Acta will achieve profitability and positive cash flow in the second half of 2010 without the need for additional shareholder funding,” Bert concluded.
Acta expects to announce further installation project engagements during the year.
For additional information
____________________________________________________________________
