German lenders KfW IPEX-Bank and Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen have offered a loan of $160.3m to refinance the 117.5MW Peralta wind farm in Uruguay.
The wind farm is being built by German wind turbine manufacturer ENERCON.
The Peralta wind farm, which is located in Cuchilla de Peralta in central Uruguay, consists of 50 ENERCON E-92 wind turbines.
The turbines have a hub height of 108 metres, a rotor diameter of 92 metres and an output of 2350 kW per turbine.
The loan structured by KfW IPEX-Bank is jointly offered through a consortium with Helaba as one of ENERCON’s core banks.
It will be paid in three tranches and is covered in part by a federal export credit guarantee (Hermes cover).
KfW IPEX-Bank management board member Markus Scheer said: “German and European wind technology is in demand internationally. This is a great opportunity ? both for manufacturers and the environment. As a bank, we do our part in helping ideas and projects take concrete shape.”
Uruguay intends to produce about 38% of its total domestic electricity production from wind energy by 2017 compared to a figure of just 13% in mid-2015.
The Peralta wind farm’s total capacity of 117.5 MW and estimated 300 GWh/pa is expected to supply green energy to around 150,000 typical Uruguayan households.
The power generated from the wind farm is sold to the national energy supplier Administración Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Eléctricas (UTE).
UTE has signed a power purchase agreement for a period of 20 years with the project company founded by ENERCON.
ENERCON is currently an investor, turbine supplier, construction and operation partner for the Peralta project.