MASE, the leading regional solar operations and maintenance firm, signed a turn-key contract with Catalyst Investment Management (CIM) to operate and maintain the Shamsuna 10 MW Solar PV Plant located within Solar Park I of the Ma’an Development Area in Ma’an, Jordan. The Plant, owned by CIM, is part of Jordan’s Round I Renewable Energy IPP Program. It is financed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), acting as mandate lender for the Seven Sisters Program, together with the Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO).
Under the contract, MASE will carry out turn-key operations, maintenance and management services comprising preventative, predictive and corrective maintenance to ensure the plant’s long-term performance and optimal availability. MASE was selected by CIM as part of a competitive request for proposal process, which involved technical and commercial due diligence carried out by the project lenders and their technical advisers. The process and subsequent award further cements the bankability of MASE’s solar O&M value proposition and adds upon its rapidly growing operational track record in Jordan.
A case for operating brownfield PV plants in Jordan
The Shamsuna Solar PV Plant was commissioned in February 2016 and operates under a 20-year PPA with the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO). The Plant was constructed by Enerray as EPC Contractor, also acting as O&M up until the handover to MASE, as second-term O&M service provider. The O&M contract with MASE will be one of the first major involvement of a specialized O&M firm in a brownfield utility-scale solar PV plant in Jordan and is expected to set a local contractual and operational precedent for other solar assets opting to decommission the involvement of the EPC Contractor in the longer-term operations and maintenance.
