SV Vesivoima Oy and Cadre AS have in co-operation bought the shares in Eidsdal Kraft AS, which entitles the new owners to lease the Eidsdalselva water course for 60 years from the local landowners. SVV’s ownership portion of the newly acquired hydro power plant is 90 % and Cadre’s 10 %.
The Eidsdal Kraftverk hydro power plant photographed from the front.
Eidsdal Kraft is a run-of-river power plant, which utilizes the constant stream of the Eidsdalselva water course with its 7,2 MW Francis turbine. However, the plant is currently only permitted to run with a maximum capacity of 5,8 MW. In production figures, this means an annual power production of ca. 23 000 MWh of renewable electricity production per year.
The Francis turbine.
“Eidsdal Kraft fits well into our portfolio. We already own Tryggestad, Stardalen and Befring in price area NO3, and will continue to invest in this part of the country”, says SVV’s and Suomen Voima’s CEO Antti Vilkuna.
The plant was commissioned in 2006 and has been well built and kept in good condition. Cadre will operate the power plant on behalf of itself and SVV, similarly as it is currently doing with SVV’s other five operating hydro power plants in Norway. For Cadre, the acquisition of Eidsdal Kraft is their portfolio’s first.
“It is of course exciting for us to be able to participate in our first acquisition already a few months after starting the company. We believe we have found a model that will work well for us where we co-invest in power plants together with others and operate them on a common behalf”, says CEO of Cadre, Carl-Fredrik Lehland.
The power plant’s intake.
The seven landowners behind the power plant are well satisfied with the sale agreement. “We have proven that we managed this on our own, both in terms of development and operation. But it has also been a demanding and challenging process with both ups and downs. When we now sell, we are happy that there are solid owners and experienced operators with the right focus”, says Jan Trygve Veiberg, chairman of the board of Eidsdal Kraft Holding.
The trade is based on the small-scale hydro power industry’s normal model, where the landowners themselves retain the fall rights and the share buyer leases the right to utilize the fall for a given period. Through this model, the power plant owner and the landowners work together to create renewable energy, and the income from the power plant is shared during the lease period. When the fall agreement expires in 2080, the landowners will be able to take over the power plant and operate it themselves.
The sale was brokered by Krafthuset AS. As legal advisers, the law firm Tofte assisted the buyer and Wold & Co assisted the seller.
Eldsvatnet lake.