Enemalta chief denies resignation linked to €25m solar project
Matthew Vella
Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter had to step down from his position shortly after a multinational with whom he is linked filed an expression of interest to install solar panels on government buildings, so that it could sell the solar energy to Enemalta.
Tranter has denied his resignation is linked to the sale of SunRay Malta Holdings, of which he is a director, to the American solar power multinational SunPower, which is now angling for the government solar energy project together with the Vassallo Builders Group.
On 11 February SunRay was acquired by SunPower for €200 million, just weeks after SunPower and Vassallo Builders – a company owned by Tranter’s business partner Nazzareno Vassallo – filed an EOI to supply 75,000m2 of solar panels on government buildings. 14 other consortia have expressed interest in the project.
Tranter is a co-shareholder with Vassallo Builders in the company Makeezi Ltd, as well as being the director of several Vassallo Builders subsidiaries, namely Caremalta Group, LBM Breweries, and Vassallo Joiners.
Questions were sent to Tranter on whether, as chairman of Enemalta and someone who championed the installation of photovoltaic panels, his position in SunRay, together with the involvement of Vassallo Builders and SunPower to sell solar energy to Enemalta, was a conflict of interest.
Both SunPower and SunRay were already working together to build Italy’s largest solar plant in 2009.
When asked whether he was aware that SunPower would join up with Vassallo Builders on the solar project, before SunRay was acquired by the multinational, Tranter claimed the two events were unrelated.
“I do not understand your question. The EOI submission you mention and the sale of SunRay Malta Holdings to SunPower have absolutely nothing to do with one another and are completely unrelated.”
Contacted yesterday evening, Nazzareno Vassallo was evasive about SunPower. When asked whether his company’s joint offer was with SunPower Corporation of America, Vassallo said: “SunPower is a company. They are foreign... we presented an EOI with them.”
When asked to state whether SunPower was the American solar power corporation, Vassallo neither confirmed nor denied: “I can’t give you many details.”
On his part, Tranter is denying any conflict of interest because, he said, SunRay “has no interest” in the project, and that he had “no involvement with Vassallo Builders Group… my present relationship is with Caremalta and Makeezi, who both form part of the Vassallo Builders Group of Companies.”
Tranter admitted knowing of government’s solar panel project “ever since government made it public knowledge”, but denied having any participation in the expression of interest.
As Enemalta chairman he led the pilot projects for the corporation’s photovoltaic installations, and supported making feed-in tariffs more realistically profitable if Enemalta was to attract the installation of more solar panels.
Yesterday Tranter said the reason for his resignation was that he was leaving the island to work abroad. When asked about his position with SunPower, Tranter did not deny any future employment with the American multinational. “I don’t hold an executive position with SunPower. An announcement of my future position will be made by the company I will be joining in due course.”
SunRay’s interests Tranter’s involvement with SunRay started back in June 2008.
SunRay Malta’s headquarters on the Valletta waterfront also house its subsidiary companies SunRay Renewable Energy, SP Cordobesa and SP Quintana.
The same address houses other firms with similar energy-related names, all held by the same trustee firm (which means the names of the shareholders are hidden), and all registered on 26 June 2008. They are Alexsun1 Malta Ltd and Alexsun2 Malta Ltd, Photovoltaic Park Malta Ltd, Almyros Energy Solution Malta, Aetolia Energy Site, Raya of Success Malta Ltd, and Kozani Energy Malta Ltd. These firms have the same directorship as SP Cordobesa and SP Quintana: auditor Edward Camilleri.
SunRay Renewable Energy already had a business relationship with SunPower in 2009 with the construction of the Montalto di Castro photovoltaic plant, the largest in Italy.
At this point Tranter’s private and public positions often coincided: while he held high-level meetings on the Malta-Sicily interconnector with representatives of Terna S.p.A – the Italian power grid company – SunRay was also commissioning a high-voltage substation from Terna.
BWSC problems Additionally, Tranter’s links with the Vassallo Builders Group meant that he had to declare a conflict of interest with the Enemalta board of directors on the €200 million extension of the Delimara power station.
Now a major investigation by the Auditor General into the contract is expected to reveal damning irregularities into the way Enemalta chose Danish firm BWSC.
MaltaToday had revealed Tranter’s conflict of interest as a business partner of construction magnate Nazzareno Vassallo, the local partner for BWSC.
Tranter declared his conflict with the Enemalta board in June 2008, after Vassallo was listed by BWSC as a subcontractor for the civil works on the Delimara extension. Although Enemalta had already been receiving proposals on the extension since 2005, Tranter says he did not involve himself in the tender and that the adjudication of the contract was independent of Enemalta’s directors.
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