IDB Invest and South American financial group Bancolombia will provide developer Solarpack with a COP656 billion (US$133 million) loan to support the development of two solar PV projects in Colombia.
IDB Invest, a clean energy financier for the Latin American private sector and subsidiary of the Inter-American Development Bank, will provide a total of COP457 billion (US$93 million), including contributions from the UK Sustainable Infrastructure Programme, and Bancolombia will fulfill the remaining COP199 billion (US$40 million).
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The loan will support the development of two Colombian solar parks, La Mata and La Union, of 108MW and 144MW capacity respectively. IDB said that it will be one of the largest solar financing packages in Colombia to date.
Both parks are expected to be operational in mid-2023 and produce around 440GWh of power.
This deal puts Solarpack on course to complete its corporate aim of 430MW of installed capacity in Chile, Peru and Colombia. In 2021, the company updated its global targets to deploy 2GW of solar PV by 2023. Colombia has committed to 70% of renewable energy capacity by 2030, alongside a consortium of eight other South American countries, and will install 4GW by the end of the decade.
Both Bancolombia and IDB said that this financial move supports their commitments to sustainable projects and decarbonising the private sector.
In July, global energy provider Enel began construction of a 487MW Colombian solar PV plant.
Earlier in the year PV Tech Premium spoke with Finnish investor Korkia about the most promising emerging markets for solar PV installation, with Colombia being highlighted as one to watch.
