French energy company EDF Renewables and Canadian Solar have raised a total of BRL1.39bn ($373 m) for their jointly-owned 399 MW Pirapora solar complex in Brazil.
Image: EDF and Canadian Solar secure finance for 399MW Brazilian solar project. Photo: Courtesy of RK008 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Canadian Solar and EDF Renewables stated that they secured the finance from multiple project finance sources. In this solar complex EDF Renewables owns 80% and the remaining 20% is owned by Canadian Solar.
The 191.5MW Pirapora I solar power project has raised BRL220m ($59m) and it includes infrastructure debentures secured from private placement to accredited institutional investors. The debentures have 16 year tenure and have been guaranteed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the IDB Group.
Additionally, the 115MW Pirapora II solar power project has secured a long term project financing of BRL366m ($99m) from Banco do Nordeste and the Northeast Constitutional Fund.
And, the third project, the 92.5MW Pirapora III solar power project has also secured long-term project financing of BRL271m ($73m) from BNDES and the Brazilian National Climate Fund.
These three solar projects have been operational since the middle of this year and are considered to be among the largest solar projects in the Latin American region. The solar plants include more than 1.2 million of solar modules supplied by Canadian Solar. The solar energy generated from these projects has been fully contracted with 20 year inflation-linked power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Shawn Qu said: “These financings demonstrate the huge interest of leading financial institutions in the development of large scale solar energy infrastructure in Brazil.
EDF Renewables Brazil CEO Paulo Abranches said: “The high quality of the projects and the solidity of the sponsors were determinant to structure this important funding.”
In April this year, Canadian Solar sold its stake in the 80.6MW Guimarania solar project in Brazil to Global Power Generation, subsidiary of Spanish energy group Gas Natural Fenosa.
Located in state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, the solar project had secured a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in the third Reserve Energy Auction conducted in 2015.