Mainstream Renewable Power: Financial Close for Andes Renovables, Phase 2

Andes Renovables is a US$1.8 billion, three phase wind and solar generation platform comprised of seven onshore wind and three solar PV generation assets. In the first phase, Cóndor reached financial close in November 2019 and is already over 30% complete.

Now, Mainstream Renewable Power has successfully raised US$620 million in debt to fund the construction of phase two of what is one of Latin American’s biggest wind and solar clusters. To date US$1.25bn have been raised by the Andes Renovables platform.

The 630 MW second phase is called 'Huemul' and is comprised of three onshore wind farms and two solar PV generation assets. All five assets are in pre-construction and will reach commercial operation within the next two years. They will generate enough electricity to power 781,000 Chilean homes and will displace 744,200 metric tonnes of CO2 each year.

The third and final phase, 'Copihue', comprises one further wind farm with a 100 MW capacity and is on track to reach financial close in H1 2021.

Vestas, Nordex Group and Siemens Gamesa will supply the wind turbines. The wind farms will be built by Sacyr Industrial, SEMI and Elecnor. The solar PV assets will be built by Sterling & Wilson and Metka-Egn. All five main power transformers for the projects will be supplied by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. Grid connection works will be carried out by Transelec, Inprolec and Isotron-Siemens consortium.

Mary Quaney, Mainstream’s Group Chief Executive, said: “Reaching financial close on the second phase of our Andes Renovables platform is a further positive step on Mainstream’s journey to delivering Latin America’s number one wind and solar PV power generation platform. Despite the uncertain economic environment caused by COVID-19, today’s announcement is testament to the support of the banking consortium of Mainstream as the world’s leading independent developer of renewable energy. Mainstream is building something much bigger than the sum of its many parts – the Andes Renovables platform is evidence of renewable energy infrastructure on a massive scale and comes at a vital time for Chile as the country looks to invest in a green and sustainable recovery from COVID-19 by decarbonising its electricity system, as well as lowering the price of power generation nationwide.”