Photon Energy Connects 7.5 MWp Solar PV Power Plant to Grid in Romania
Amsterdam, 20 February 2014 – Photon Energy Investments, asubsidiary of global solar energy solutions and services providerPhoton Energy NV (Warsaw SE: PEN), announces the launch of EuropeanSolar Holdings NV (ESH), a Pan-European Solar Asset AggregationYield-Co with the strongest possible investment protectioncurrently available. ESH intends to establish itself as thepreferred vehicle for yield-seeking investors into renewable energyassets in the European Union by combining effective investmentprotection and efficient asset management with a liquid publiclisting and an attractive dividend yield. Investors operating PVpower plants in the EU will be able to swap their investments forshares in ESH, which aims to IPO on a major European exchange in2015.
ESH’s investment protection is based on experience gained inarbitration proceedings brought against Spain and the CzechRepublic and the expected cancellation of Bilateral InvestmentTreaties (BIT) between EU member states. The key element is theaggregation of the largest possible volume of PV assets under thestrongest available BIT with a safe non-EU country. Given thesubstantial cost of international arbitration, economies of scaleare crucial. Therefore, ESH will offer all investors in PV powerplants across the EU access to its defence platform.
Devastating retroactive tax and regulatory changes aimed at PVinvestors across the EU - most notably Spain, Greece, the CzechRepublic, Bulgaria and now even Italy – are spreading fast.“With no real recourse to national courts, a cynicallyunhelpful EU Commission and the toothless Energy Charter Treatyinvestors have become free-for-all sitting ducks”,says Georg Hotar, CEO of Photon Energy. Eachnew outrageous measure by an EU member state against bona-fideinvestors appears to be inspiring the next attack in anothercountry. “The high fragmentation of ownership and paper-tigerindustry groups have rendered investors’ defence very weak. Asinvestors in this fundamentally attractive asset class we caneither sit and pray or we can improve our defences and fightback”, Hotar explains.
“No responsible and prudent investor with existing exposureto PV or other renewable energy assets in the EU, let aloneinvestors considering new investments into this asset class, canafford ignoring the risk of retroactive tax and regulatorymeasures. This risk extends to all jurisdictions in the EU,including Germany, France and the UK”. For increasinglydesperate governments taking money from a relatively small numberof defenceless investors appears too good an opportunity to pass."The most recent final dismantling of the supportmechanism in Spain and the consequential slaughter of equityinvestors and financing banks serves as the most relevant real-lifeexample of things to come”, warns CEO GeorgHotar.
The benefits of PV asset aggregation captured by ESH for itsinvestors will extend beyond effective investment protection.Photon Energy’s capabilities as a full-service O&M providerthrough its subsidiary Photon Energy Operations with its NPVmaxapproach will optimise the risk/return profile of ESH’s portfolio.ESH’s growing portfolio will provide crucial economies of scale forportfolio-level debt financing, opening alternatives to local bankfinancing in the form of access to debt capital markets to optimizethe capital structure and cost of capital, maximizing the portfolioROE.
As the founding sponsor PEI intends to contribute its 26 MWp ofgrid-connected PV power plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia andItaly to ESH. The target portfolio size for the IPO is 250 MWp andthe long-term objective is to aggregate a 1 GWp portfolio by2017.
For more information about European Solar Holdings NV pleasevisit www.europeansolarholdings.com
Jan Krcmar
T +420 773 032 182
E jan.krcmar@photonenergy.com