Karavasta Solar (IFC-45644)

Countries
  • Albania
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Hasturkas and Ndërnenas, Divjaka and Fier municipalities of Albania
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Dec 22, 2022
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
KARAVASTA SOLAR SHPK
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Infrastructure
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 38.16 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 36
Converted using 2022-12-22 exchange rate.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 127.21 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 120
Converted using 2022-12-22 exchange rate.
Bank Documents
Corporate Actor Documents
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Mar 2, 2023

Disclosed by Bank Sep 6, 2022

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

The proposed investment will support the development of the Karavasta Solar Project, a 140MW (installed capacity) solar PV plant to be located in the Divjaka and Fier municipalities of Albania. The project is to be developed by Karavasta Solar sh.p.k, an SPV established by Voltalia S.A. (https://www.voltalia.com).

The PV plant will be a medium-size utility-grade grid-connected solar-PV power system consisting of approximately 241,400 PV panels attached to model tracking systems, string inverters, 220 kV step-up substation (to be constructed within the proposed boundary of the site), and grid connection equipment. The PV plant will be connected to the national grid via the existing Fier substation and a 19.2 km long, 220 kV overhead transmission line to be built by Voltalia and transferred to the transmission system operator upon commissioning.
Additional infrastructure will include a building to accommodate SCADA equipment, onsite buried cabling, access tracks, material storage, and temporary office facilities.The PV plant site is located within the Libofsha administrative unit, municipality of Fier, and lies approximately 5 km south of the Karavasta Lagoon. The available land for the PV plant is 196 hectares (ha), with the proposed PV layout footprint occupying a total of 185 hectares. The nearest villages are Hasturkas and Ndërnenas, which lie 800 m and 1500 m, respectively, to the east of the project area.

The PV plant site is adjacent to Divjaka-Karavasta National Park, a Candidate Emerald Site under the Bern Convention encompassing Karavasta Lagoon Ramsar Site. It is a highly important natural area  in Albania. The project site also partially overlaps (by approximately 50%) with the Karavasta Lagoon Key Biodiversity Area and Important Bird Area designated for globally threatened bird species, important congregations of wintering and breeding waterbirds, and the endemic Albanian Water Frog.                     

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

From the EBRD's website:

The Project is being carried out by Karavasta Solar Sh.p.k., a special purpose company incorporated in Albania, wholly owned by VMI ALB Karavasta BV incorporated in the Netherlands.

VMI ALB Karavasta BV is indirectly wholly owned by Voltalia S.A., based in France. Voltalia is a global utility-scale renewable energy developer and service provider with extensive experience in the development and financing of solar PV and wind projects. Voltalia is listed on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris since May 2006. Its controlling stake is owned by Creadev (71.3%), an investment company fully owned and funded by the Mulliez family. The remaining shares are free float with 2.5% and 2.6% owned by PROPARCO and EBRD, respectively. Voltalia is the Sponsor to the Project.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Creadev SAS Investor Finance
- - - - Karavasta Solar Sh.p.k. Client Energy
- - - - Voltalia SA Parent Company Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
Fax: 202-974-4384

Client - Karavasta Solar Sh.p.k:

Elvan Muca - Community Liaison Officer
Phone: +355 6840 27034
Email: karavasta@voltalia.com
Address: Ndërtesa ETC, Bvd. Bajram Curri, Kati 9, Zyra 3, Tirana, Albania
Website: https://karavastasolar.com/

Parent Company - Voltalia SA:

Address (HQ): 84 bd de Sébastopol, 75003 Paris, France
Phone: +33 1 81 70 37 00
Email: info.voltalia@voltalia.com
Website: www.voltalia.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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