Time is not yet right for the sinking solar PV company Suntech. Just last Friday the company announced some more Italian solar parks were being seized by the authorities of Global Solar Fund (GSF).
This follows two similar developments recently. Earlier on September 23rd, an additional 5.3 MW of solar fields were seized and on October 4th, another 1.9 MW were seized.
As of October 9th, in total, 47 sites with a total generating capacity of 37.8 MW have been seized representing approximately 26.9 percent of GSF’s total generating capacity.
On September 30th, the Court of Brindisi agreed to appoint judicial administrators for the 27 sites seized on September 19th. During the judicial administration period, the Court of Brindisi has authorized that such solar fields will continue to operate and receive feed-in-tariffs in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Court.
The Brindisi court has taken action over alleged permitting, planning and environmental crimes associated with the seized assets as well as the suspected improper collection of FIT payments.
In relation to the last seizure on October 4th, the relevant Italian subsidiaries of GSF are evaluating whether to file the request for the appointment of a judicial administrator.
Suntech owns 88 percent of GSF and amounts to 47 confiscated solar parks adding up to 37.8 MW, or 26.9 percent of GSF-backed generating capacity.
The developers of the sites seized ten days ago are still considering whether to request the appointment of administrators, which will permit the parks to keep generating and receive FITs.