CRIMEAN SOLAR POWER PLANTS CONTINUE TO GO BANKRUPT

On April 24, the Arbitration Court (AC) of Crimea decided on the bankruptcy of the company "Theta Solar" (case A83-18714/2022). The operative part of the court decision was published in the file on May 2. The initiator of the insolvency process was the company "Dilona". The arbitration entrusted the bankruptcy management to Svetlana Smirnova, representing the Union of SRO AU "Strategy".

Theta Solar is one of the operators of "green" energy in Crimea, managing a solar power plant (SES). The company was established in Simferopol in March 2012. The main owner is Krasolina Investment Ltd with a 99.67% stake, registered in Cyprus, Interfax writes. A minor share of 0.33% also belongs to the Cyprus company Milidenio Holdings Ltd.

Theta Solar is not the only SES operator in Crimea that has gone through a bankruptcy process in recent years. Until 2014, companies for the development of alternative sources of electricity were developed by ActivSolar GmbH from Austria. However, back in 2012, information appeared in the press that "solar" firms were being re-registered to offshore companies or unknown individuals. ActivSolar itself was associated with companies close to the entourage of the then President of Ukraine Yanukovych.

In 2014, the operating companies successfully passed re-registration in Russia, continuing to be controlled by foreign legal entities. However, already at the end of 2017, the arbitration satisfied the application of the then "daughter" of VTB on the insolvency of several such operators at once.

Alfa Solar, Beta Solar, Gamma Solar and Zeta Solar owed VTB Capital Plc over 34 billion rubles. Firms stubbornly did not return borrowed funds received from Russian and foreign credit institutions. The main beneficiary of all firms was the same offshore company ("Ournia Comershl Ltd").

In mid-2020, a company from five more legal entities joined the bankruptcy of the above-mentioned operators. "Lennet Solar", "Clarion Solar", "Bora Solar", "Calypso Solar" and "Canary Solar" went bankrupt under a simplified procedure. All of them were declared insolvent by the court as being in a state of liquidation. The total debt of green energy operators to creditors was estimated at 63 billion rubles.

Photo by Freepik