SunEdison Inc. on Tuesday announced it has secured financing and started construction on the 110-megawatt DC Quilapilun solar power plant in Santiago, Chile.
The power plant will be SunEdison’s first solar project in Santiago and is expected to be its largest solar project in Latin America.
“This project is our first solar plant in the metropolitan region, and further advances our position as a renewable energy leader in Chile,” SunEdison Vice President for Latin America Carlos Barrera said. “Solar energy has become cost competitive with other energy-generation sources in the country. With solar, we are able to supply regulated MARKET consumers with clean energy at lower prices than they pay now.”
The energy produced by the solar plant is expected to be sold to the regulated market through long-term power purchase agreements with local electricity suppliers. The energy will supply the Sistema Interconectado Central as part of the 570-gigawatt hour contract awarded to SunEdison by the Chilean National Energy Commission in December 2014.
SunEdison closed a $160 million long-term, nonrecourse debt financing arrangement for the project with CorpBanca, The financing will fund the development, construction and operation of the project.
The Quilapilun solar plant is projected to generate 242 GWh of electricity a year — enough to power 117,000 homes. The solar plant is expected eliminate the emission of more than 125,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
