Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010
By Nour Malas
Of ZAWYA DOW JONES
ABU DHABI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Torresol Energy, an alliance between Abu Dhabi's Masdar initiative and Spanish engineering firm Sener, said Tuesday it plans to build solar power plants in the U.S., Abu Dhabi and elsewhere after securing $760 million in loans to build two plants in Spain.
Torresol plans to expand its activities outside of Spain and is looking for a U.S. partner to enter that market, Frank Wouters, Masdar Power's associate director, told Zawya Dow Jones Tuesday.
"We're looking at the wider Middle East and North Africa region, but we're also looking at the United States," Wouters said. "We're becoming much more cost competitive."
Torresol is evaluating sites and talking to various potential partners all across the North African countries, he said. In Abu Dhabi, the company is studying possible sites and technologies to plan a solar plant "as soon as possible."
Torresol earlier Tuesday said it had secured a 20-year, $760 million loan to build twin, 50-megawatt concentrated solar power plants in Spain.
The two plants, Valle 1 and Valle 2, have a combined capacity of 100 megawatts and are slated for completion by the end of 2011, Torresol chairman Enrique Sendagorta said at a renewable energy summit being hosted by Masdar in Abu Dhabi.
The twin plants have an investment value of $1 billion, bringing Torresol's total spending on its three solar power plants over the past year to $1.4 billion, the company said in a statement. Building the plants in Fuentes de Andalucia in Seville, which began in March 2009, will create 3,200 new direct jobs in Spain during the two-year construction period.
TECHNOLOGY
The solar plants will use technology that will enable them to generate electricity at night and in periods of poor sunlight.
"All of our projects are now fully financed and fully viable," Jose Morales, Sener's corporate chief financial officer, told Zawya Dow Jones. Sener, Spain's largest privately-owned engineering firm, owns 60% of Torresol, while Masdar owns 40%.
The remainder of the $1 billion project will be financed by equity from the partners according to their ownership split.
"It was challenging, but we're not facing financing bottlenecks for growth," Morales said of the project financing. The seven Spanish banks involved in the club deal "distinguish between Dubai and the other emirates," he said, when asked if restructuring of debt in neighboring emirate Dubai was affecting the ease of securing project financing.
"We didn't receive any calls from this--they understand the distinction well," Morales said.
Masdar is fully-owned by the government of Abu Dhabi and is driving the emirate's plans to become a hub for renewable energy and green technologies.
Torresol last year completed financing for its first, 17 megawatt solar power project, the Gemasolar Central Tower Plant.
-By Nour Malas, Dow Jones Newswires, +97150 2890223; nour.malas@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
19-01-10 1425GMT
