Renewables developer Mainstream Renewable Power has achieved financial close for a solar and wind platform in Chile, consisting of ten projects with a total capacity of 1.35GW.
The company has now completed an investment of more than US$1.8 billion to build the Andes Renovables platform, which is expected to be fully operational by 2022. This completion comes as the company announces the final US$182 million in debt raised will be used for the construction of a 148.5MW wind farm.
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Of the ten projects, which are expected to create 3,100 construction jobs, three are solar PV installations that have a combined capacity of 350MW.
Having secured the backing of six banks for the first phase of Andes Renovables in 2019, Mainstream reached financial close for the second phase last September, raising US$620 million in debt, before closing a US$280 million finance facility a month later.
The ten wind and solar projects are located between the regions of Antofagasta and Los Lagos. “It is precisely this geographical and technological diversification that will allow for a more secure and constant electricity supply,” said Manuel Tagle, Mainstream’s general manager for Latin America.
Tagle also revealed that the company is investing in a new large-scale renewables platform, dubbed Nazca Renovables, and has recently signed four energy supply contracts with private customers.
Mainstream was the biggest winner in Chile’s technology-neutral electricity auction in 2016, picking up a 20-year contract to supply 3,366MWh of power as of 2021. Earlier this year, the company announced an agreement with Norway’s Acker Clean Hydrogen to explore the development of green hydrogen in Chile using power from a 1GW portfolio of its projects in the country.
Offers for Chile’s next power auction, for 2,310GWh/year of supply, can be submitted by 5 August 2021. The auction has been delayed twice due to coronavirus restrictions in the country.