KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd (MARC) has affirmed its AA-IS rating on solar power plant operator Sinar Kamiri Sdn Bhd’s RM245mil green sukuk.
In a statement on Tuesday, it said the rating outlook for the green sustainable and responsible Investment (SRI) Sukuk Wakalah is stable.
Sinar Kamiri is a special purpose project company that owns and operates a 49.0MWac solar power plant in Sungai Siput, Perak.
MARC said the rating affirmation primarily reflects Sinar Kamiri’s satisfactory project fundamentals that are underpinned by the terms of the 21-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tenaga Nasional Bhd
(TNB), among which is to purchase energy generated by the plant at a fixed tariff.
The rating is moderated by the risk of variability in solar irradiance which determines the amount of energy generated and performance risks associated with the plant’s operations.
In 2020, lower-than-projected irradiance had affected the plant’s electricity output by about 1.1% from P90 estimates. The lower irradiation was due to weather conditions.
Accordingly, Sinar Kamiri posted marginally lower revenue of RM33.1mil against a projected RM33.4mil.
Cash flow from operations (CFO) was RM31.3mil while CFO interest coverage was 2.29 times.
As at end-February 2021, total cash and bank balances stood at RM32.4mil, which would be sufficient to meet sukuk obligations of RM6.6mil and RM15mil due at end-July 2021 and end-January 2022.
“The project is expected to achieve minimum and average finance service coverage ratios (FSCR) with cash of 3.09 time and 3.29 times under base case.
“On sensitising the plant’s unavailability of 2.4% and the increase in operations and maintenance cost by 10% under the more stringent P99 estimates, the minimum and average FSCR are 2.47 times and 2.77 times. These suggest the cash flow projections can withstand moderate sensitivities to P99 estimates, ” MARC said.
