Etrion Corp. has announced an agreement with ABB to complete Etrion’s 10MW Helios ITA 3 solar project under construction in the Puglia region of Italy. Etrion will own the power plants, and ABB will design, construct and provide operations and maintenance services for the parks. The Helios ITA 3 project includes two 5MW ground-mounted solar PV parks under construction, Brindisi and Mesagne, in the Puglia region of Italy. Construction of the project was voluntarily delayed in order to clarify the Italian feed-in-tariff applicable to projects connected after 31 May 2011. On 5 May 2011, the Italian government approved a decree establishing tariffs for new solar PV plants, and Etrion subsequently decided to proceed with ABB as the new contractor. Construction of the Helios ITA 3 parks is expected to be completed by 31 August 2011. The Helios ITA 3 parks are expected to receive a feed-in-tariff of EUR 0.25 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) plus the market price of EUR 0.08 per kWh. The Italian feed-in-tariff guarantees the purchase price for solar electricity by the Italian government for 20 years from the start of operations. The 10MW project is expected to produce 16.8 million kWh of electricity and EUR 4.6 million of earnings to Etrion before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization per year.
