By Ryan Randazzo | The Arizona Republic
Australia-based Enviromission Ltd. still is trading stock, but its plans for a big solar project in Arizona hinge on someone providing $750 million to build the unusual project with no utility lined up to purchase the electricity.
The company no longer has an agreement to sell the power from the plant, something that normally is required before a bank will offer funds for a renewable-energy power plant.
Enviromission had approval to sell the power to a group of California utilities, but in November, it announced the deal was off, telling shareholders that the Southern California Public Power Authority needed an “immediacy of certainty” when purchasing power from renewable-energy projects. Enviromission “could not satisfy that immediacy” because it was still working out the financing, the company said at the time.
“We’ve been working very hard on the financing and making sure the project’s economics are correct,” CEO Roger Davey said Friday from Australia. “There is movement on the project, albeit not as quickly as we like.”
He said he still hopes to break ground next year.
