By Ryan Randazzo | The Arizona Republic
Contractors have filed more than $16 million in disputed claims against the Spanish company that is using a $1.45 billion federal loan to build a massive solar power plant near Gila Bend.
At least eight contractors have been involved in disputes with Abengoa Solar over the Solana Generating Station and have filed construction liens, a legal tool to collect on bills.
The bulk of the claims have been filed by Interstate Mechanical Corp. and Kitchell Contractors Inc., two Arizona companies that say Abengoa has owed them between about $13 million and $16 million since last summer. Several other Arizona companies have filed liens claiming they were not paid for a total of $437,000. Some have settled privately.
“It has been harder and harder to deal with them,” said Kitchell President Jim Swanson, whose company has been contracted for about $70 million in work at the plant, most of which has been paid.
The construction of the solar plant has included about 400 contractors and about 1,600 construction jobs since work began in 2010.
Abengoa’s affiliates include Abeinsa EPC, Teyma USA and Abener. Kitchell won a large contract from some of these affiliates last year and hired Interstate Mechanical as a subcontractor.
Because Kitchell has not been paid, its subcontractors also have not been paid, which is typical for such transactions. That prompted Interstate Mechanical, or IMCOR, to file notices of claims against Kitchell last month totaling $16 million.
Kitchell had to file its own claims against Abengoa, though it claims about $3 million less than IMCOR is owed. The companies are likely to enter binding arbitration on the dispute as the project aims for completion this summer, Swanson said.
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If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, Co-Chair of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department at crich@roselawgroup.com
