[China Co-Financing Fund] IDB administers 7 million USD loan from CHC for Los Loros Solar PV Project

On 2 September 2015, the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC, now IDB Invest), acting on behalf of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), signed a loan contract with Solairedirect Generación V SpA for the construction of the Los Loros Solar Photovoltaic Plant. Through this agreement, the IIC would provide a 19.7 million USD A loan from the IDB's ordinary capital (Loan 3407A/OC-CH), a 7 million USD loan from the China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean (CHC) (Loan 3407/CH-CH), and an 18 million USD loan from the Canada Climate Fund for the Private Sector in the Americas (C2F) (Loan 3407/CA-CH). Proparco, the French Development Agency, has also contributed a senior loan of 19.7 million USD. The IDB reports an expected total project cost of 102.7 million USD, and an expected country counterpart financing of 46.3 million USD. The IDB approval date for this loan financing was 16 December 2014, and the IDB had authorized the provision of loan funds up to 25.6 million USD for Loan 3407A/OC-CH from the IDB's ordinary capital, up to 12.8 million USD for Loan 3407/CH-CH from the CHC, and up to 18 million USD for Loan 3407/CA-CH from the C2F. The Los Loros Solar Photovoltaic Plant (Parque Solar Los Loros) is located in the town of Tierra Amarilla, province of Copiapó, Atacama region, Chile. The project includes the construction of the 53 MW plant, as well as a 6.78 km, 110 kV transmission line that will connect to Los Loros Substation. It will supply electricity to Chile's Sistema Interconectado Central (SIC), with the intent to reduce Chile's reliance on fossil fuels. The plant's September 2013 Environmental and Social Management Report estimates it will generate 116 GWh annually. The land taken up by the plant has been leased by Solairedirect Generation V SpA for 25 years, who has both an engineering, procurement and construction contract and an operation and management contract, according to IPP Journal. Per PV Magazine, there is no power purchase agreement (PPA) involved. As of May 31, 2016, the plant was expected to be operational by July 2016. It was inaugurated in early December 2016. The "ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL STRATEGY – DRAFT" from 2014 estimated a 29 month construction period. Solairedirect Generation V SpA, the borrower and plant owner, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solairedirect, itself a subsidiary of the French company Engie. The SIC is now under the Coordinador Electrica Nacional, an autonomous corporation under public law, non-profit, with its own assets and of indefinite duration, established by the Government of Chile. The China Co-Financing Fund was established on 14 January 2013 with a contribution of 2 billion USD by the People's Bank of China, and it is administered by the IDB. For more information, see umbrella project ID #86526.

Additional details

"Chile to expand use of non-conventional renewable energy sources with IDB support" from the IDB website notes the loan from the China Co-Financing fund was 8 million USD, not 7 million. However, since this press release is from 2014, and the agreement was signed in 2015 (see "Los Loros Solar PV Project"), the amount provided in the more recent 2016 article from IDB Invest ("IIC finances more than US$40 million in solar energy and SMEs in Chile") has been used (7 million USD).

Number of official sources

8

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