Canadian Solar has closed $69m of non-recourse project financing for the 67.8MW Aguascalientes solar power project in Mexico.
Image: Canadian Solar secures $69m finance to build 68MW solar plant in Mexico. Photo: Courtesy of Ben Schonewille at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Canadian Solar stated that the financing package was provided by Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior (Bancomext) and Banco Sabadell. Bancomext is a Mexican Development Bank and Export Credit Agency and Banco Sabadell is a commercial banking group headquartered in Spain.
The financing package includes $53.2m in long-term loan, $5.6m in letter of credit facility, and a $10.2m Value Added Tax (VAT) short-term loan. The long term loan will be used to repay a $45m construction loan that was previously provided by Natixis.
Canadian Solar said that the 67.8MW Aguascalientes project secured a power purchase agreement (PPA) during the Mexico energy auction held in 2016. Green electricity generated from the plant will be sold to Comisión Federal de Electricidad for 15 years and the clean energy certificates for 20 years.
For this solar plant, Canadian Solar will use more than 200,000 of its CS6U-P Max Power modules and expects that the commercial operations at the plant will begin by the end of this month.
Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Shawn Qu said: “We are pleased to partner with Bancomext and Banco Sabadell to support Mexico’s goal of reaching 35% renewable energy by 2024. We already have a 436MW late-stage pipeline with contracted PPAs in Mexico.
“These solar projects will enable Canadian Solar to create many local jobs across the Aguascalientes, Hermosillo, and Obregón regions.”
Few days back, the company secured $50m financing for its 100.1MW solar power project in Cafayate, Salta Province, Argentina.
The financing was arranged by CAF – Development Bank of Latin America It includes $30m CAF A-loan with 15-year tenure, a $15m parallel loan from the Argentinian Development Bank of Investment and Foreign Trade (BICE) with a 15-year tenure, and a $5m parallel loan from the Bank of the City of Buenos Aires (Banco de la Ciudad) with a 10-year tenure.
This 100MW project has been financed under the RenovAR program in the country. Launched in 2016, the program aims to increase the share of renewable to 20% of national energy mix by 2025.