SunEdison has announced financial closure and beginning of construction on the 110 MW Quilapilun solar power plant in Chile.
SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy development company, revealed earlier this week that it had secured a $160 million, long-term, non-recourse debt financing arrangement with CorpBanca, one of the largest commercial banks in Chile, and DNB, Norway’s largest financial services group. The funds are set to be used for the development, construction, and operation of the Quilapilun solar power plant.
Concurrently, SunEdison also began construction on the Quilapilun solar power plant, located in the Metropolitan Region of Chile. Upon completion, which is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2016, Quilapilun will generate 242 GWh of electricity annually, which is the equivalent of powering 117,000 homes in the region. The project is also expected to eliminate more than 125,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, which is comparable to removing 28,000 cars from Chilean roads.
“This project is our first solar plant in the Metropolitan Region, and further advances our position as a renewable energy leader in Chile,” stated Carlos Barrera, SunEdison vice president for Latin America. “Solar energy has become cost competitive with other energy generation sources in the country. With solar, we are able to supply regulated market consumers with clean energy at lower prices than they pay now.”
Energy produced by the Quilapilun solar power plant will be sold to the regulated market through long-term power purchase agreements with local electricity utilities, and is expected to be the largest solar project in Latin America.
Once the project is complete and running, TerraForm Power — SunEdison’s yieldco — intends to acquire the project.
“Today’s announcement underscores the important role our call rights with SunEdison play on TerraForm Power’s growth strategy,” said Carlos Domenech, Chief Executive Officer of TerraForm Power. “This solar project more than doubles our footprint in the fast-growing Chilean solar market and provides significant value to our shareholders.”
