SunEdison secures USD 260.5m in loans for 100-MW Chilean solar park

Sep 10, 2013 - US-based SunEdison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) said today it had obtained USD 260.5 million in debt financing for a 100-MWp solar project in Chile’s Atacama desert.

The Amanecer Solar CAP project is a partnership of the US company and Chilean iron and steel group CAP (SCL:CAP). Today SunEdison, former MEMC Electronic Materials Inc, said it had closed a non-recourse debt financing deal under which the International Finance Corp (IFC) provides USD 65 million, while the US government’s development finance institution Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC) extends a parallel loan of USD 147.5 million. In addition to these two, Dutch banking group Rabobank has provided a USD-45-million Chilean Peso VAT credit facility.

SunEdison will own the solar park. Construction started last month and is planned to be finalised in the first three months of next year. Connection to the Central Interconnected System (SIC) is to be completed between October 2013 and March 2014 in several phases.

In its first year of operation the 100-MWp Amanecer Solar CAP facility will generate 270 GWh per year, according to estimates. Thus it would avoid 135,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. “This project is just the first step of SunEdison's long term commitment to the development of the green energy in Chile,” said Pancho Perez, SunEdison president for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.755)

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