Neoen, one of the world’s leading and fastest-growing independent producers of exclusively renewable energy, announces the commissioning of its Altiplano 200 solar power plant. The 208 MWp solar park located in the Salta province of Argentina stands 4,000 metres above sea level. Neoen fully owns the plant.
Benefitting from some of the world’s best sun exposure, Altiplano will be producing 650,000 MWh of green electricity per year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 215,000 people. The power plant is Argentina’s second-largest solar farm. The electricity produced will be sold to national operator CAMMESA under a 20-year purchase agreement.
The solar park was formed through the merger of the La Puna (107 MWp) and Altiplano (101 MWp) projects awarded to Neoen in the RenovAr 1 and RenovAr 2 competitive tenders and is covered by a guarantee from the World Bank.
The plant was built under a turnkey contract by a Franco-Spanish consortium formed by GenSun and TSK, including significant French and Argentinian industrial content. The construction generated over 450 direct and indirect jobs, the majority of which were taken up by people from the region’s indigenous communities.
Financing of the plant was provided by Proparco, DEG, ICCF, Société Générale, and KfW, the latter two with a buyer’s credit guarantee from BPIAE, in the form of non-recourse senior debt of USD 211 million.
Emmanuel Pujol, Regional Director of Neoen for Americas, commented: “The commissioning of Altiplano 200 is a major milestone in Neoen’s regional development. In a particularly difficult context and despite a delay of several months, Neoen succeeded in carrying through the ambitious project and honour its commitments. Drawing on the experience gained as well as on the creativity and resilience deployed by our teams to overcome the obstacles in our path, Neoen emerges all the stronger to continue our growth in the Americas.”
Xavier Barbaro, CEO of Neoen, concluded: “We are very proud to be commissioning Altiplano 200 in Argentina. I would like to congratulate the Neoen teams involved in the development and completion of this complex project. I would also like to express my gratitude to our lenders, who enabled this exemplary project to go ahead. By generating green electricity for the national network for the next 20 years, we are helping Argentina meet its renewable energy targets. This commissioning demonstrates that as a company we strive to honour our commitments and seek to stand out as a best-in-class independent producer of renewable energy wherever we operate.”
