EAM Solar sheds 2 MW of PV in Italy to cover legal costs

Norway-based utility EAM Solar ASA said on Tuesday it has sold a subsidiary in Italy that owns two photovoltaic (PV) power plants in Piemonte totalling 2 MW of installed capacity.

EAM Solar is selling the assets to secure funding for extraordinary legal costs and general corporate purposes. The firm is currently involved in a number of legal proceedings.

In mid-July 2014, EAM Solar completed the purchase of seven companies holding 20.5 MW of power plants. Subsequently, it realised that there was an ongoing investigation by the public prosecutors' office in Milan against employees of the vendor, Luxembourg-based Aveleos SA. Also, it discovered later that month that the contractual status of the feed-in tariff (FIT) contracts for some of the facilities had been changed from active to suspended.

As a result, the firm launched legal actions to secure damage claims of EUR 212 million (USD 239m) against Aveleos and its parent companies Enovos Luxembourg SA and Avelar Energy Ltd.

The company has now divested EAM Solar Italy 3 Srl, owner of the Momo and Caltignaga solar parks, for a cash consideration of about EUR 3.55 million. The sale will lead to an accounting loss because of the difference between the book value of the company and the sales price, it explained.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.126)

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