Karadzhalovo SPP

completed

The project involves the development, construction, operation and maintenance of a 60.4 MWp (50MW-AC effective) solar photovoltaic power plant at Karadzhalovo in the municipality of Parvomay, Plovdiv District, Bulgaria (“Karadzhalovo SPP” or the “Project”). The Project is owned by ZBE Partners EOOD (the “Company”), a special purpose vehicle that is ultimately 100% owned by SunEdison LLC, a leading global developer, EPC contractor and operator of utility scale, commercial and small size solar power systems. All of the output generated by the Project will be sold to the national electricity company, Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania EAD (NEK), a 100% subsidiary of the Ministry of Energy Economy and Tourism under a 20-year PPA. IFC investment would be an IFC A Loan of €45 million and an IFC B Loan of up to €45 million which will be participated by UniCredit Bank Austria AG.The Project will have 42 photovoltaic blocks of variable capacity, and each block consists of a number of photovoltaic modules (solar sub-arrays) grouped in strings and connected to an AC/DC inverter transformer station. Photovoltaic modules will be crystalline silicon (c-Si) based modules. The modules will be made up of a number of solar cells, with cell types either mono-crystalline or polycrystalline, both suitable and proven for large photovoltaic power plants. The 42 inverter stations will be connected through an internal 20kV underground network in a ring configuration which leads to a new 20/110kV substation to be built within the project site. The generated power will be transferred through a 7.5km 110kV underground transmission line (to be built as part of the Project) to NEK’s existing Borisovgrad substationThe Project site is a 100 hectare land, formerly owned by the Parvomay Municipality and used for agricultural purposes in the past. The agricultural status of the project site was re-zoned under the Municipality’s Master Plan and the land was converted to industrial use in 2006. Through a public tender procedure initiated by the Parvomay Municipality, this land was transferred to INTERZONA Ltd. Plovdiv. In September 2011, the land was sold to the Company for the Project. The site is about 160 km southeast from the capital city Sofia, or about 9km east from the town center of Parvomay. The site is flat and easily accessible from Karadzhalovo Village. There is a railway passing adjacent to the site border (southside), but sufficient distance is kept to avoid any possible shading influence on the solar modules. The closest residence is about 500 m south from the project site. The construction of the Project started in September 2011 and is expected to finish by the spring of 2012.