Mainstream Renewable Power has closed funding of US$620 million for the second phase of the Andes Renovables wind and solar generation platform in Chile.
This second phase, named Huemul, comprises three wind farms of 425MW and two solar assets of 205MW. All of these are in the pre-construction phase and should reach commercial operation between 2021 and 2022.
The financing, said to be one of the largest renewable energy debt financing deals undertaken this year, has been provided by a consortium of five banks: IDB Invest, KfW IPEX-Bank, DNB, CaixaBank and MUFG. A sixth, Santander, provided a VAT facility.
“This latest milestone comes as we are making excellent progress on the construction of the first phase of the platform,” commented Manuel Tagle, Mainstream’s General Manager for Latin America.
The three phase, $1.8bn Andes Renovables platform is an important component in Chile’s renewable generation build out. The project is set to bring online 950MW of wind and 350MW of solar power by 2022 in the Atacama and Antofagasta regions in the north and Los Lagos in the south.
Phase 1 – named Condor – comprises three wind assets totalling 426MW and one solar asset of 145 MW. Construction of these projects, including the 86MW Alena Wind Farm pictured above in the centre of Chile, has continued throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and is more than 30% complete, according to a company statement.
In the third phase, Copihue, a further 100MW wind farm will be developed. Financial close is on track for the first half of 2021.
Providers for phase 2 include Vestas, Nordex Group and Siemens Gamesa, which are supplying the wind turbines.
Mainstream in Chile
Mainstream has a development pipeline of 2.7GW of wind and solar generation in Chile, in addition to the Andes Renovables platform. This follows the awarding in 2016 of a 20-year contract to supply 3,366 GWh of firm power starting in 2021.
Mainstream has also delivered an additional 332MW of wind generation at three locations in Chile. These are owned by Aela Energia, a joint venture independent power producer between Mainstream and energy investor Actis.
