Puebla solar IPP to close financing in Q2
Sponsors of the 250MW Puebla solar IPP project in Mexico – Alten Energias Renovables and Sojitz – are expected to reach financial close on a $150 million DFI-backed loan in Q2 to fund the scheme.
The project, located in the state of Puebla, includes the solar park and an associated 6km power transmission line, and is partially backed by corporate PPAs with a number of offtakers, leaving a portion of power to be sold on the spot market.
ING won the mandate to structure the deal this month, alongside Mexico’s DFI Bancomext and multilateral IDB Invest (with the latter putting up a ticket of up to $45 million). The financing was launched in November this year.
The project marks Alten's second such scheme in Mexico. The sponsor closed financing – a $230 million IFC/IDB/Bancomext-backed loan with commercial banks MUFG and Banobras – on its $368 million 290MW Solem solar park in El Llano, Aguascalientes, in 2017. Sojitz acquired a 20% equity stake in Solem, with Cubico Sustainable Investments buying a 70% stake. Alten retains 10% of the equity in that project.
