Mainstream Renewable Power will invest US $ 1,000M in solar and wind energy energy in Chile

The investment will be directed to the construction of “Huemul”, the second phase of the renewable energy platform called Andes Renovables, which will contribute 630 MW of sustainable energy to the electricity matrix between 2021 and 2022.
Mainstream Renewable Power announced on Tuesday that it will invest a total of US $ 934 million in the construction of “Huemul”, the second phase of the renewable energy platform called “Andes Renovables”.

When the complete platform is operational, about 20% of the energy consumed by regulated clients in Chile will be supplied by Mainstream projects. With this, the company will be the largest generator of unconventional renewable energy – clean and at a low price – in the country and the first to build a total of 10 projects simultaneously.

“We hope that the projects we are building will contribute to a sustainable economic reactivation, which is so necessary at the moment,” said Manuel Tagle, General Manager of Mainstream for Chile and Latin America.

Mainstream signed a financing for US $ 620 million with a consortium of five foreign banks to build “Huemul”, which will contribute 630 MW of sustainable energy to the electricity matrix between 2021 and 2022.

The funds come from IDB Invest, KfW IPEX-Bank, DNB, CaixaBank, and MUFG, and represent one of the largest amounts of renewable energy financing this year on the continent. For its part, a sixth bank, Santander Chile, financed the VAT credit. The difference to reach US $ 934 million will be provided by Mainstream’s own capital.

Andes Renovables, whose projects were winners of the 2016 electricity tender, will involve a total investment of US $ 1.8 billion, will contribute 1.3 GW of clean energy to the national matrix and will generate up to 3,100 sources of work.

It will illuminate a total of 1,725,000 Chilean homes and prevent the emission of 1,642,000 tons of CO2, the same as produced by 348,666 cars per year. It will be one of the largest non-conventional renewable energy platforms in Latin America.

In its three phases, it contemplates the construction of a total of 10 wind and solar parks that extend from the Antofagasta Region to the Los Lagos Region. It is precisely this geographical and technological diversification that ensures a constant electricity supply.

The first phase of Andes Renovables, called “Cóndor”, which consists of four parks and had a total investment of US $ 830 million, currently presents an advance of more than 30% in construction and generates about 1,200 jobs. When it comes into operation, it will contribute 571 MW of sustainable energy to the matrix.

The third and final stage of the platform, called “Copihue”, is on the way to obtaining financing to add another 100 MW of capacity.

In charge of the construction of the Huemul wind farms will be Sacyr Industrial (Ckani), Elecnor (Llanos del Viento) and SEMI (Puelche Sur), while Vestas, Nordex Group and Siemens Gamesa will supply the wind turbines. Sterling & Wilson and Metka-Egn will build the Valle Escondido and Pampa Tigre solar parks, respectively.

The electrical connection works will be carried out by Transelec, Inprolec and the Isotron-Siemens consortium, and the five main transformers of the projects will be carried out by Hitachi ABB Power Grids.