Mainstream Renewable Power has reached financial close for the second phase of its 1.3GW Andes Renovables wind and solar power generation platform in Chile.
The developer has raised US$620 million in debt to fund construction of five renewable facilities, including three wind assets with a total capacity of 425MW and two solar assets totalling 205MW. All five projects are in pre-construction and will reach commercial operation between 2021 and 2022.
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The senior financing has been provided by a consortium of five banks: IDB Invest, KfW IPEX-Bank, DNB, CaixaBank and MUFG. A sixth bank, Santander, provided a VAT facility.
Andes Renovables is a three-phase wind and solar generation platform comprised of seven onshore wind and three solar PV generation assets. The first phase reached financial close in November 2019 and is now 30% complete. The final phase consists of one 100MW wind project.
The solar PV assets are being provided by Sterling & Wilson and Metka-Egn, while all main power transformers for the projects will be supplied by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. Grid connection works will be carried out by Transelec, Inprolec and an Isotron-Siemens consortium.
Manuel Tagle, Mainstream's general manager for Latin America, said the debt financing comes as the company is making “excellent progress” on the construction of the first stage of the project, which features three wind farms and one solar facility with a total capacity of 571MW.
“I have been delighted by the response of our teams on the ground to the challenging conditions that the pandemic has created,” he said.
“The economic and environmental impact of the platform is very significant, and with a development pipeline of 2.7GW of wind and solar assets in addition to the Andes Renovables platform, Mainstream remains committed to making an even greater contribution to Chile for the foreseeable future.”
Mainstream Renewable Power has a portfolio of 9GW of wind and solar assets across Latin America, Africa and Asia Pacific. As part of a 2016 auction in Chile, the company was awarded a 20-year contract to supply 3,366GWh of power to the country starting in 2021.
According to green energy body ACERA, Chile's renewables sector benefitted from a strong 2019, with installed capacity growing from 5.08GW in 2018 to 5.9GW last year, almost doubling the 3.2GW recorded in 2016. Renewables covered 19.4% of Chile’s electricity generation last year.