Herlev, 5 February 2009
Company announcement No. 4/2009
Update on Greentech's activities
Following up on previous company announcements, we hereby provide an update on
the situation in Greentech Energy Systems A/S.
1. Energia Verde
Nordex has now completed the retrofitting of all blades on the turbines in this
project and, as of today, the turbines are back in normal operation.
As previously announced, we will seek to cover the production loss under the
warranty from Nordex. The production loss has as well been registered under the
insurance cover provided to Energia Verde. The insurance company is currently
investigating the incident and is expected to make a recommendation within a
short period of time. Greentech does not expect to incur a financial loss as a
result of this production stop.
2. Financing of the Monte Grighine project
Efforts to make this project finance operational are continuing in close
collaboration with Natixis. The bank has completed its technical and legal
examination of the project with a positive outcome. Efforts are currently being
made to fulfil the conditions required to make the project finance operational.
Greentech and its advisers believe that the company will be able to fulfil these
conditions.
Natixis has initiated the syndication of the loan, which is a prerequisite for
an operational loan agreement. According to the bank this process will be
finalised in the end of Q1 2009, so that the project finance subsequently can be
made operational.
It should be emphasised that Greentech is not directly involved in this
syndication process. The above-mentioned time indication for an operational loan
agreement is based exclusively on the reports received from the syndicating
bank.
3. Financing of the Cagliari II project
The bank providing the project finance postponed this loan process in 2008 due
to blade problems in the Energia Verde project.
As this issue has now been resolved, the loan process will be resumed. As the
loan process was relatively far advanced when it was discontinued in 2008, the
financing is expected to be made operational during Q2 2009. This loan process
benefits from the fact that the financing is provided by the same bank that
financed the Energia Verde project, so a number of procedures and documents have
already been negotiated and agreed upon in connection with that project finance
structure.
4. Ongoing construction
During this winter, we have experienced extreme weather in Italy involving heavy
rain falls. As a result of this, we have had to postpone the installation of
turbines in the Monte Grighine project due to difficulties in handling heavy
machinery on site. For the same reason, the commencement of turbine installation
in the Minerva Messina project has been postponed. It is expected that the heavy
transport at these sites can restart around 1 April 2009 after the internal
roads at the two sites have been substantially repaired.
The status of each construction project is set out below.
Minerva Messina - 48.3 MW
- Foundations:
All foundations have been completed.
- Turbine deliveries:
Because of heavy rains in the area, the installation of turbines has been
postponed until around 1 April 2009. The transport of turbine parts to the site
will commence in March if weather permits. All permits for this transport have
been obtained.
- Cables:
Approx. 18 kilometres of the 32 kilometres of cable for the project are in
place.
- Transformer station and grid connection:
Construction is currently underway of both Greentech's and Terna's part of the
transformer station. According to the current timetable, Greentech's transformer
station will be completed by the end of April, whilst Terna's transformer will
be ready by the end of September.
However, in this project, Greentech has obtained permission to establish a
temporary grid connection directly from our transformer station. The grid
connection is expected to be completed in mid-May, allowing for the turbines to
be connected to the grid as they are installed. We currently expect that all
turbines will be connected by the end of September.
Monte Grighine - 98.9 MW
- Foundations:
37 foundations have been completed.
- Turbine deliveries:
Eighteen of the 43 turbines in the project have been installed. The
installation of the remaining turbines will be resumed around 1 April 2009 if
weather permits.
- Cables:
About 80% of all cables for the project are in place.
- Transformer station and grid connection:
Construction of Greentech's part of the transformer station is expected to be
completed by the end of February. Terna's part of the transformer station is
expected to be finalised by the end of April. Once this work is completed, this
part of the transformer station will be handed over to Terna, which subsequently
requires 1-2 months for testing the station. On completion of these tests, the
project can be connected to the grid, and this is expected to take place no
later than in early July. The turbines that have been installed at this time can
subsequently be connected, whilst the remaining turbines will be connected as
they are installed. The last turbine is expected to be connected in September.
Cagliari II - 24 MW
- Foundations:
All foundations have been completed.
- Turbine deliveries:
Under the terms of the contract with Nordex, the first wind turbines will be
delivered around 1 July 2009.
- Cables:
This work is expected to commence in Q1 2009.
- Transformer station and grid connection:
As this project is linked with Energia Verde's existing grid connection, this
process does not involve any independent activities. Consequently, a transformer
and a building for the control units are all that need to be delivered.
According to the timetable, this construction work will commence in Q1 2009.
Board of Directors
For further information please contact:
Kaj Larsen, CEO, tel.: +45 33 36 42 02