Mainstream’s US$993 million Huemul portfolio of wind and solar projects in Chile has received new recognition for its funding.
The raising of US$620 million from a consortium of seven lenders last year was named as the region’s Renewable Energy deal of 2020 at the recent LatinFinance Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards.
The judges also praised the 1.35 GW Andes Renovables platform – which Huemul’s three wind and two solar projects form Phase 2 of – for its “innovative” hybrid approach to delivering on 24/7 year-round firm power commitments.
The acclaim for Huemul’s financing follows it success earlier this year at the prestigious Proximo energy and infrastructure sector awards
“The financing for the Huemul Portfolio allows us to build out our renewable energy projects in Chile and continue with our commitment to deliver clean energy at scale. It signals the confidence of the market in our strategy and the work we are doing to build out this portfolio,” CEO Mary Quaney tells LatinFinance.
What sets Mainstream’s approach apart from others is the use of different energy sources – wind and solar power – and the location of the projects. Quaney says that the hybrid approach is an important feature of the project’s development in Chile.
“The assets are diversified very carefully geographically as well as by technology. The hybridized portfolio provides a more aggregated generation profile. It is an innovative approach and we are doing it at scale, which let us close the financing at a very difficult time in the Covid-19 pandemic,” she says.
Huemul will add 632MW of renewable energy to the Chilean grid through five assets, including three wind farms and two solar PV projects. Mainstream’s initial Condor project, with $520 million in financing that closed in 2019, includes 571MW in wind and solar projects. A third phase, Copihue, will add close to 150MW with one wind farm. $182 million in financing for it closed in July.
When completed in 2022, Mainstream’s assets will provide a substantial chunk of Chile’s non-conventional general capacity, which stood at 7,338MW in July 2021, according to the National Energy Commission.
