Chile’s CNE has lowered electricity volume for its delayed 2023 auction; I Squared buys stake in Brazil’s Órigo Energia; MYTILIENOS achieves financial close for 588 MW in Chile; SPIC Brasil’s PV parks complete ahead of schedule.
Chile lowers 2023 tender capacity: The Chilean National Energy Commission (CNE) has lowered the amount of electricity it plans to procure through competitive process under an auction that has been delayed from 2023. As against 5,400 GWh/year originally sought and later pulled down to 5,000 GWh/year, it now plans to seek an annual volume of 3,430 GWh/year citing an update in the demand projection. It will now be auctioned as 1,430 GWh/year for block 1 to start power supply from 2027, and 2,000 GWh/year under block 2 for power supply to begin from 2028 (see Changes To Chile’s Upcoming Power Supply Auction).
The agency has also announced it will seek 2,000 GWh/year volume for the 2024 auction, followed by 800 GWh/year for 2025 auction and 1,400 GWh/year for the auction to be held in 2026. Winning projects for all these 3 auctions will need to start supplying power in 2029, 2030 and 2031, respectively.
$400 million for Órigo Energia: US private equity firm I Squared Capital has announced its 1st direct investment in Brazil, committing up to $400 million in distributed energy generation company Órigo Energia. It will enable the latter to construct more than 2 GW of distributed PV projects in 20 states with an estimated capital expenditure of BRL 6 billion ($1.2 billion). Currently, Órigo has more than 100,000 customers and 300 MW of operational assets catering to residential, and small and medium sized enterprises. I Squared gets a 49% stake in the Brazilian company with this investment.
Financial close for 588 MW in Chile: Greece-based MYTILINEOS Energy & metals has reached financial close for its 588 MW non-recourse solar PV portfolio. This portfolio has been developed and is now under construction by MYTILINEOS in the form of Willka, Doña Antonia, Tocopilla and Tamarico solar parks. On completion, these will generate an estimated 1.6 TWh hours of green electricity annually. Majority of power produced by these 4 facilities will be sold to Enel Chile under 10-year power purchase agreements. Financing for this capacity was arranged from BNP Paribas, Intesa San Paolo, Sumitomo Mitsubishi Banking Corporation, Rabobank and Santander Chile, on a 588 MWp non-recourse solar portfolio as $135 million construction and term facility, $30 million VAT facility and $32 million of LC facilities, the developer informed.
738 MW PV capacity closer to commissioning: The Brazilian presence of China’s SPIC, SPIC Brasil says it has reached final phase of SPIC Solar Parks in Ceará and Piauí regions with 738 MW of combined capacity. Both the projects are scheduled to come online in H1/2024; however, these are ready ahead of time. The 292 MW Panati Solar Complex in Jaguaratema, Ceará is already generating electricity and connected to the grid. Both these projects cost over BRL 2 billion to come online on close to 2,200 hectares of land. These will generate enough clean energy to supply 900,000 homes/year.
