Terna is preparing to use project bonds first. "We have asked the Government and the Authority to start with the project bonds, we expect announcements and definitions between now and the end of the year. Terna does not need financing but it can be a pioneer", said the managing director Flavio Cattaneo in a press conference called to announce the opening of the construction sites for the interconnection between Benevento and Foggia. On the Stock Exchange, the stock rose by 3,69% in the afternoon.
In a difficult moment for sovereign risk, the project bond can be a valid tool to have lower rates, both for corporate and sovereign debt. "Terna wants to take advantage of the possibility of using project bonds which would allow financing at lower rates because I believe they can have an even higher rating than that of the state", explained Cattaneo. So the company is already moving by questioning the market to identify the most suitable projects. The idea is to start with some existing structure because, Cattaneo points out, "works yet to be built have too great risks" for investors to make an initial experiment. And they pay the price for the uncertainty associated with the construction of infrastructure in Italy. Again to meet the market by lowering the risk for investors, Terna has taken steps to ask the Authority to define the remuneration for each section and provide certain tariffs for longer periods, up to twenty years.
As regards Terna's plans for the summer, it will not be a holiday period. With the construction site of the Foggia-Benevento power line, the group reaches 3 billion euros of works under construction throughout the peninsula, with over 150 construction sites, 750 companies employed and more than 4 people at work. Two thirds of the work in progress is concentrated in the Centre-South and the Foggia-Benevento power line, which started six months ahead of schedule, is intended for upgrading the electricity grid in the South. And that with an investment of 90 million, will guarantee lower costs in Terna's numbers for 30 million a year. It is one of the six main works under construction by the group together with the Sorgente-Rizziconi, Trini-Lacchiarella, Italy-France, Dolo-Camin power lines and the Italy-Montenegro interconnection (here just yesterday the letter of guarantee from the Government finally arrived Montenegrin necessary to activate the financing of the EIB reported the CEO). Taken together, the six main projects will save Italy 340 million a year: in five years, Terna has calculated, the system will have repaid the cost incurred, and for the remaining 15 years there will be a net benefit of over 5 billion euro, to the benefit of household businesses.
“Electricity consumption is still decreasing – explained Cattaneo – it will be possible to speak of stabilization only in 2014 with the beginning of a recovery on the consumption side. "In Italy there is a surplus of power compared to demand - explained Cattaneo who sees a recovery in consumption only since 2014 - which we must get to export at least partially because we have an efficient generation park and we must take up the challenge". To do this it is necessary "to have an increasingly integrated European market and to create infrastructures not only for internal consumption but for an industrial system that can export".
"Ours will be a summer of strong commitment to growth and development - commented Cattaneo - convinced that our best contribution is to continue to do our job, to support the real economy with the development of infrastructures". In the last seven years, Terna has invested over 5 billion and plans to invest another 8 between now and 2016.
