First Reserve closes funding for Rovigo solar plant

First Reserve has closed its financial facilities agreement for the Rovigo solar plant at €276 million. The private equity firm bought the 70MW PV plant from Sun Edison, with whom they had previously established a joint venture, this past September. Banco Santander, Unicredit Corporate Banking, Credit Agricole, Dexia Crediop, Natixis and Societe Generale were additional lenders with First Reserve for the financing agreement.

First Reserve made an opening payment of €46 million to SunEdison with the remaining balance to be paid once the plant reaches interconnection; expected in the fourth quarter of 2010. First Reserve also anticipates closing the long-term debt financing during the fourth quarter. After the sale is complete, SunEdison will oversee the continuing operations and maintenance for the plant.

Mark Florian, managing director of First Reserve Energy Infrastructure, commented, “SunEdison is a leader in executing large scale projects like Rovigo and we are proud to add this flagship project to our energy infrastructure portfolio.  Rovigo will serve as a worldwide reference for its scale, representing many unique skills embedded in our partnership with SunEdison, including expertise in coordination of complex solar projects, technical management and financial execution.”