Client: Bella Bulgaria SA, Bulgaria

Dates: 2012, 2014 - 2015

Country of assignment: Bulgaria

Description of actual services provided:

In 2012 Encon was selected by Bella Bulgaria SA to perform Technical and Financial Due Diligence and implementation monitoring of seven biomass gasification co-generation power plants having a total capacity of 40 MW located across Bulgaria.

Bella Bulgaria SA proposed to build six new biomass gasification power plants and was looking for financing six new plants and one operational plant. Biomass gasification power plants are on the forefront of the biomass industry’s development due to their high efficiency and low emissions. The six new plants use industry-leading technologies. The waste wood gasification and dry gas cooling systems are state of the art, however they have a relatively short operating history.  The plants could have excellent financial return due in large part to the high preferential feed-in tariffs that were offered in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Government offers the lucrative feed-in tariffs in conjunction the EU policy aimed to increase renewable energy sources in energy balances of European countries.

The Technical and Financial Due Diligence of the seven power plants identified risks to the investors, and assess any mitigating factors including:

• Performance and Technology-Related Risks
• Site-Related Risks
• Completion Risk (cost overrun and start up delay risk) including engineering, procurement, construction, testing & commissioning
• Operations & Routine Maintenance Risk
• Major Scheduled Maintenance & Corrective Maintenance Risk
• Power Sales-Related Risks
• Fuel Resource-Related Risks
• Water-Related Issues
• Approval, Regulatory, and Environmental Risks

Encon performed monitoring of the existing plants operation. The monitoring was focused on verification of the Power Plants’ operation.