July 2013 - First Large Scale PV Plant in Chile Reaches Financial Close

Astris Finance is pleased to announce the successful financial closing of a non-recourse term facility for two photovoltaic solar power plants located in Northern Chile.

Watch the Project's video on IDB TV: 

http://www.iadb.org/en/videos/watch,2173.html?videoID=9947

The Project is sponsored by Solarpack, a Spanish solar PV developer and the leader in Latin American solar project development. The Project consists of the construction of a 25 MWp PV plant contracted with the Collahuasi mining operation and the refinancing of an existing 1 MWp PV plant contracted with Codelco. These plants are the first large-scale solar power plants financed in Latin America on a fully contracted basis with mining off-takers. They are also believed to be among the first solar projects worldwide to be financed on a non-recourse basis without any kind of financial support from the public sector (feed-in tariffs, tax credits, etc.)

Astris Finance acted as financial advisor to Solarpack for the raising of a USD 64 m non-recourse, project finance debt facility, throughout the structuring, placement, due diligence, documentation and closing of the transaction. The debt is provided by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Canadian Climate Fund and the Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (PROPARCO), while the equity is provided by Solarpack.

The financing structure was tailored to match the Project’s long-term contracted cash flows, with a total term of 19 years and coverage ratios consistent with the outstanding credit quality of the off-takers.

This is Astris Finance’s third financial closing in the Latin American solar sector in the past 18 months, further consolidating the firm’s unique track record in the renewable energy sector in the region.