Norway’s Scatec Solar by the end of 2019 will boost its portfolio of projects in the solar power sector of Ukraine to some 400 MW, and total investment would reach €250-300 million, Scatec Solar CEO Raymond Carlsen has said in an interview with Energy Reform portal.
This year at least five and maybe six projects will be implemented. Now Scatec Solar has five projects at different stages of development, three of which are already under construction: this is a cluster of 47 MW projects in Mykolaiv region, one project with a capacity of 32 MW in Cherkasy region and the last project with a capacity of 148 MW was launched in Mykolaiv region early June. In addition, the company is working on projects with a total capacity of 274 MW, they are in the process of development, Carlsen said.
Speaking about the first experience of working in Ukraine, the CEO of Scatec Solar said that the work went faster than expected. “I was in Kyiv a year ago, a year after our preliminary visits to Ukraine. I met with representatives of the Ukrainian government and other institutions and was very impressed with their level of awareness and involvement,” the top manager said.
According to him, the improvement of some important points of the power purchase agreements (PPA), partly initiated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), made it easier to obtain financing for green energy investors, which also activated operations of Scatec Solar in Ukraine.
In addition, the company was able to hire highly qualified specialists in Ukraine and intends to attract them for their foreign projects, the investor said.
Carlsen said that after the implementation of its long-term plan for the feed-in tariff, the company plans to continue working in Ukraine in the system of green auctions. “We would like to participate in auctions in Ukraine, expected in 2020 in accordance with the adopted law on auctions, if it is successfully implemented and influences market prices,” the top manager said.
The CEO of Scatec Solar said that the company, being the largest operator of solar projects in South Africa, participated in similar auctions in this region, and became one of their winners. Scatec Solar also participated in auctions in many other countries, he added. According to him, in South Africa, quite high requirements are imposed on bidders – all documents must be prepared (permits and financing).
“At the same time, as we have seen in other markets, there are significant risks when the requirements for bidders are not so tight. In many cases, companies offer very low tariff rates, but later they cannot finance projects at this tariff level and then the auction mechanism ceases to exist because it does not achieve the desired goal. Thus, in Ukraine a lot depends on the reliability of the selection criteria set by the state. There is a risk that you will have very attractive offers, but the plants will not be built,” Carlsen said.
