SunEdison has started construction of the 110-megawatt peak Quilapilun solar power plant in the Metropolitan Region of Chile. The panels constituting the project are proposed to be interconnected in the first quarter of 2016.
The company has stated that the project will be its first in Santiago and is expected to be its largest venture in Latin America.
The company will sell power generated from the project to local utilities through long-term power purchase agreements in the regulated market.
Last December, Chilean National Energy Commission awarded a 570-gigawatt hour contract to SunEdison under which it is to supply output to the national alternating current grid Sistema Interconectado Central.
Along with the process for project development, SunEdison also closed a $160-million long-term, non-recourse debt financing arrangement for the project.
CorpBanca and DNB-Norway are funding the project. And SunEdison plans to use the funds to finance development, construction, and operation of the project.
The Quilapilun solar plant is expected to generate 242 GWh of electricity annually. The output is adequate to power 117,000 homes, and will be able to prevent emission of more than 125,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually. It is the equivalent of removing 28,000 cars from Chilean roads, according to another report.
Earlier, SunEdison had included the Quilapilun project to the call right project list of its subsidiary TerraForm Power. That company owns and operates clean energy power plants of SunEdison.
SunEdison Services will undertake the operation and maintenance of the project when it is completed.
Earlier this year, SunEdison had completed 69.5 megawatt Javiera solar power project in Chile. The project was funded by a $130-million non-recourse debt financing arrangement with CorpBanca and BBVA.
The project will provide energy under a 20-year power purchase agreement to Minera Los Pelambres, a subsidiary of the copper mining company Antofagasta Minerals.
It was the first solar project in Chile to be financed exclusively by commercial banks.
Ajith Kumar S