Mainstream Renewable Power has reached financial close on the 571MW first phase of its 1300MW Andes Renovables wind and solar power generation platform in Chile.
The company has raised $580m in debt finance from six banks – CaixaBank, DNB, KfW IPEX-Bank, Natixis, SMBC and Societe Generale.
A seventh bank, Banco Santander, has provided a VAT facility.
Mainstream said the first phase of Andes Renovables – called Condor – is comprised of three wind and one solar plants.
Construction has already started, and the four projects will reach commercial operations in 2021.
In total, Andes Renovables will cost about $1.7bn and comprise seven wind and three solar plants.
The next two phases, Huemul and Copihue, which have a combined capacity of about 730MW, are on track to reach financial close in the coming months, Mainstream said.
The new wind farms will be built by Sacyr Industrial and Elecnor, with Vestas, Nordex and Siemens Gamesa supplying the turbines.
Sterling & Wilson will build the Rio Escondido solar farm, while grid connection works will be carried out by Transelec, CGE, HMV and Siemens.
All four main power transformers for the projects will be supplied by ABB.
Mainstream Group chief executive Andy Kinsella said: “Breaking ground at Mainstream’s 1.3GW Andes Renovables platform is a major milestone in our long-term commitment to bringing low cost, clean energy generation to Chile.
“The start of delivery of this $1.7bn, three phase project – one of the largest wind and solar power generation platforms in Latin America – is further evidence of Mainstream’s position as the world’s leading independent developer of renewables, with 9GW of assets in development across Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
“Today’s announcement will be closely followed by the financial close and start of construction at the second and third phases of Andes Renovables in the coming months.”
Mainstream general manager for Latin America Manuel Tagle said: “We are very proud to be leading the way in decarbonising Chile’s electricity system as well as lowering the price of power generation in the country.
“Today’s announcement of the financial close of Condor is particularly significant, as these four new projects alone will displace over 656,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
“Furthermore, with an additional 2.7GW of wind and solar development asset pipeline, the most geographically diverse in the country, we are committed to making an even greater contribution in the decades to come.”