Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On June 7, 2018, the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC, now IDB Invest), acting on behalf of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, signed a 37 million USD loan contract with FV Mexsolar I, S.A.P.I de C.V. and FV Mexsolar II, S.A.P.I. de C.V. to finance the construction of the Guanajuato Solar PV Plant. Through this loan contract, the China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean would provide a $3.2 million USD loan for the Guanajuato Solar PV Plant Project. Additionally, IDB Invest provided a $9.6 million USD loan from their own capital, and the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector of the Americas (C2F) provided a $3.6 million USD loan. These loans carried a maturity period of 20 years. The project was also supported by a $12.8 million USD loan from Spain's Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO) and a $7.8 million USD loan from Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) with a maturity period of 16 years. This is the first of four solar plants to be developed by X-Elio in Mexico and financed through IDB Invest, all off which were approved on December 14, 2017, and are listed under project code 11894-02 and project name "Guanajuato Solar PV" (see also #85018, #85237, and #85238). The project was financed through a mixture of debt and equity, with a 59:41 debt-equity ratio. $25.7 million USD in equity was provided by X-Elio Energy, S.L., the project developer with 100% ownership. The purpose of this project was to design, construct, commission, and operate two solar photovoltaic plants with a peak capacity of 70.35 MW in Los Rodriguez, San Miguel de Allende, in the eastern part of the State of Guanajuato. Specifically, this project involved the construction of two 35 MW photovoltaic plants, MEXSOLAR I and MEXSOLAR II as well as two segments of transmission line totaling 18.92 km in a project area of 115.8 hectares. The project aligned with the Government of Mexico's goals to establish a wholesale electricity market, diversify its energy supply, and have 50% of its electric grid be sourced from clean energy sources by 2050. X-Elio was awarded a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) by Mexico's Federal Electricity Agency, Centro Nacional de Control de Energía (CENACE) in September 2016. Per the agreement, X-Elio would sell electricity to the national grid of Mexico's Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) under a 15-year contract, while also selling clean energy certificates over a 20-year period. Per the PPA, the plant was set to reach its commercial operations date (COD) in June 2018. It began operation in October 2018. The China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean consists of funds provided by the Chinese Government and is managed/administered by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The China Co-Financing Fund was established on January 14, 2013 with a contribution of $2 billion USD by the People's Bank of China. For more information, see umbrella Record ID#86526.