[China Co-Financing Fund] IDB administers 3.4 million USD loan from CHC for the Conejos-Terranova Solar PV Plant Project (inked to #85018, #54677, and #85238)

Project narrative

In December 2018, IDB Invest (the private sector institution of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, formerly Inter-American Investment Corporation, or IIC), signed a loan package with Conejos Médanos, S.A.P.I de C.V for the Conejos-Terranova Solar PV Project for 17.2 million USD. This included $3.4 million USD from the China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean, a $10 million USD loan from IDB Invest, and a $3.8 million USD loan from Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector of the Americas (C2F), all with a 20 year maturity period. In addition, Spain's Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO) was to provide a loan with an expected maturity period of 20 years, and Japanese bank MUFG Bank, Ltd. was set to provide a commercial loan with an expected maturity period of 16 years. This project had an expected total cost of $74,651,000 USD. This is the second 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, #54677, and #85238). The purpose of this project was to finance the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of a photovoltaic solar plant and the relevant transmission and interconnection facilities in the Municipality of Juarez in the State of Chihuahua. The solar plant had a nominal capacity of 80 MW. In total, there were 40 inverters of 2,200 kWn and 273,600 photovoltaic modules that could provide 340 Wp of peak for the plant. The project was spread across 266.63 hectares on private property under a 20-year long lease by X-Elio. As part of the project, a substation 7.6 kilometers northeast of the project was to be constructed to connect the generated energy into the national electric grid of the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). The plant was set to have an annual capacity 183.8 GigaWatt-hours (GWh). The project aligned with the Government of Mexico's plan to diversify its energy supply and help 50% of Mexico's electricity be source from clean energy by 2050. The project was expected to create 950 direct and indirect jobs. It was expected to eliminate approximately 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over 20 years. Conejos Médanos S.A.P.I de C.V. appears to be a subsidiary of X-Elio, a solar plant developer based in Spain. X-Elio was the sponsor responsible for developing the Conejos-Terranova Solar PV Plant. The National Center for Energy Control of Mexico (CENACE) awarded Conejos-Medanos long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) at an auction in September 2016: the Government of Mexico will purchase clean energy certificates (CELs) for 20 years and energy and power for 15 years. Construction began on December 18, 2018. Per the PPA offer, the plant was supposed to reach its commercial operations date (COD) in March 2019. However, a Mexican federal judge issued an injunction to Conejos Médanos S.A.P.I de C.V. prevented from continuing implementation due a Mexican law that prohibited new private energy works from being connected to the national electric grid. Then, on May 20, 2020, the Government of Mexico authorized the reactivation of pre-operational tests in 23 renewable energy power plant, including the Conejos-Terranova Solar PV Plant. X-Elio's website continues to list the project as "under construction" as of February 2022. 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.