Country for PR: United Kingdom
Contributor: PR Newswire Europe
Friday, July 02 2021 - 04:29
AsiaNet
Mainstream Renewable Power Successfully Completes the Final Phase of c.US$1.8 billion Wind and Solar Financing Deal in Chile
DUBLIN and SANTIAGO, Chile, July 1, 2021 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

Global wind and solar company, Mainstream Renewable Power ("Mainstream" or "The 
Company"), has achieved financial close for the third and final phase of its 
"Andes Renovables" wind and solar platform in Chile. The c. US$182 million in 
debt raised will be used to build the "Copihue" phase which consists of one 
wind farm, named Caman, located in central Chile. 
 
The project, which will commence operations in 2022, initially had an installed 
capacity of 100 MW but has since increased to 148.5 MW following the signing of 
an additional long-term, bilateral Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with a 
strategic partner. 

The senior debt financing comes from KfW IPEX-Bank, DNB, CaixaBank and the VAT 
financing comes from Scotiabank Chile.

With the financial close announced today, Mainstream completes an investment of 
more than US$1.8 billion to build its entire Andes Renovables platform, which 
is expected to be fully operational by 2022 and will provide around 20% of 
power for regulated customers in Chile using renewable energy. 
  
Sacyr will be the Balance of Plant contractor for the Caman wind farm and they 
will carry out the electrical connection works. The main transformer will be 
supplied by ABB.    

Mary Quaney, Mainstream's Group Chief Executive said:

"Net zero commitments across the world require systemic decarbonisation of 
power – our presence and work with partners in both mature and emerging markets 
demonstrates the scalability and success of our project development model to 
support this transition.

"Andes Renovables is one of the largest renewable energy platforms in Latin 
America which will have an installed capacity of 1.35 GW of clean energy, 
generating around 3,100 jobs during its construction. 

"It showcases our industry-leading expertise in structuring hybrid projects 
with the combination of ten wind and solar generation profiles in order to meet 
our commitments to deliver firm power at scale over a twenty-year period. 

"It reflects our commitment to, and experience in Chile, which is one of the 
world's most progressive renewable energy markets, and further solidifies our 
leadership position in-country, where we will soon be supplying the equivalent 
of one in five Chilean homes with power from our facilities."

Manuel Tagle, Mainstream's General Manager for Latin America said: 

"Andes Renovables will power the equivalent of more than 1.7 million Chilean 
homes and avoid the emission of more than 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 per annum, 
the same as that produced by approximately 350,000 cars each year. The ten wind 
and solar farms that make up the platform are located between the regions of 
Antofagasta and Los Lagos. It is precisely this geographical and technological 
diversification that will allow for a more secure and constant electricity 
supply. 

"We are pleased to have increased the Copihue portfolio size by 50% by adding a 
bilateral PPA in addition to the existing regulated PPA, which demonstrates our 
standing in the market.  

"And it doesn't stop there. We are using our platform in renewables and 
experience as a market leader to pioneer new developments in emerging 
technologies to complement existing capacity and ensure we are on the cutting 
edge of cleantech. In parallel to the Andes Renovables platform we are also 
investing in a new large-scale renewable platform, Nazca Renovables, and in the 
last few months we have signed four new energy supply contracts with private 
customers. We look forward to sharing more updates on both portfolios as they 
progress through development."

Notes to Editors: 

About Mainstream Renewable Power in Chile

In 2016, Mainstream was the biggest winner in Chile's largest ever 
technology-neutral electricity auction, taking 27% of the total allocated 
capacity. Chile's National Energy Commission awarded Mainstream a 20-year 
index-linked, US dollar denominated contract, to supply 3,366 Gigawatt Hours of 
firm power starting in 2021. Mainstream has also delivered an additional 332 MW 
of wind generation in Chile via the Aela Platform with its joint venture 
partner Actis, delivering its first wind farm into commercial operation in 
2014. Mainstream has an additional 2,700 MW of wind and solar PV generation 
assets under development in Chile.

Andes Renovables Projects
 
Phase  Portfolio Financial Close  MW wind projects 	MW solar projects 
  
1	Condor 	 November 2019 	 3 project (426MW) 	1 project (145MW) 
2	Huemul 	 September 2020  3 project (425 MW) 	2 project (205 MW) 
3	Copihue  June 2021 	 1 project (148,5 MW) 	---

Contact: 

Emmet Curley, Head of Communications & Positioning 
Phone: +353 86 2411 690 
Email: emmet.curley@mainstreamrp.com  

Caroline Cutlet | Ojasvi Goel, FTI Consulting
Phone: +44 20 3727 1000
Email: mainstreamRP@fticonsulting.com

About Mainstream

Mainstream Renewable Power is a leading pure-play renewable energy company with 
a global footprint. The company is focused on expanding its high-quality 
pipeline of more than 13 Gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar assets across Latin 
America, Africa, Asia Pacific as well as the global offshore wind sector. In 
May 2021, it closed an agreement for Aker Horizons to take a 75% equity stake 
in the company, enabling Mainstream to accelerate its global expansion plan to 
bring 5.5 GW of assets to financial close by 2023 ahead of a planned IPO.

Mainstream has delivered more than 6.5 GW of wind and solar assets to financial 
close, and currently has over 1.4 GW (net) in construction across Latin America 
and Africa. In Chile, Mainstream's wholly-owned 1.35 GW of fully contracted 
wind and solar assets are on track to reach commercial operation from 2021. In 
Africa, the company has delivered 842 MW of wind and solar assets into 
commercial operation in South Africa, and further, through its Lekela Power 
joint venture has 410 MW of wind assets in construction in Senegal and Egypt.
 
Mainstream is the most successful independent developer of offshore wind at 
scale globally.  It has successfully consented Hornsea One (1.2 GW), the 
largest operational offshore wind plant in the world today; and developed the 
Hornsea 2 project (1.4 GW)  before selling these projects and the entire Zone 
in 2015. Overall, it has developed and later divested projects representing 22% 
of the UK's offshore wind capacity either in operation or under construction.  
Mainstream fully consented the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind project in 
Scotland, 450 MW, currently under construction. Mainstream's Soc Trang 1.4 GW 
offshore wind development in Vietnam is one of South East Asia's largest 
renewable energy developments. 

Mainstream has raised more than EUR3.0bn in project finance to date and employs 
more than 340 staff across five continents.

www.mainstreamrp.com

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SOURCE: Mainstream Renewable Power 
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