SunEdison secures US$100 million funding for 50.7MWp project in Chile

The second of two major projects SunEdison is expecting to complete in Chile during the first quarter of 2014 has received project financing of US$100.4 million from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US government's development finance institution and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.

The 50.7 MWp ‘San Andres’ solar power plant, located in the Atacama region, garnered US$62.9 million from OPIC, US$37.5 million from IFC and a local Chilean Peso VAT facility for the equivalent of US$25.6 million from Rabobank.

Chile does not have a feed-in tariff system, so the project will be connected to the Central Interconnected System (SIC), generating revenue by selling all its electricity production on the spot market (merchant solar), making it the largest merchant PV power plant in Latin America and one of the largest in the world.

Pancho Perez, SunEdison President for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, stated, "This plant represents significant growth for SunEdison and Chile's PV industry, and significant value creation for SunEdison, investors and the region. The San Andres merchant PV plant highlights SunEdison's ability to deploy innovative energy solutions that address consumers' electricity needs, contribute to national economic growth by reducing energy cost, and serve as a reference for the industry worldwide. We are very proud to partner once again with OPIC, IFC and Rabobank in Chile to enable this worldwide flagship project."

SunEdison is also building 100MW PV power plant in Chile, which is expected to have reached the 75MW completion point in the first quarter of 2014, and part of SunEdison’s target of more than doubling PV projects next year.