Canadian Solar closed on $69 million in non-recourse project financing provided by Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior and Banco Sabadell. The financing consisted of a $53.2 million long-term loan, a $5.6 million letter of credit facility and a $10.2 million VAT short-term loan.
The financing will be used to support the company’s 67.8 MWp Aguascalientes solar power project in Mexico. Proceeds from the long-term loan will also be used to repay a $45 million construction loan that was previously provided by Natixis.
The Aguascalientes project was awarded a power purchase agreement (PPA) during the 2016 inaugural Mexico energy auction. Electricity generated by the plant will be sold to Comisión Federal de Electricidad, under a 15-year PPA for energy and capacity and a 20-year PPA for clean energy certificates.
The solar power plant utilizes over 200,000 high-efficiency CS6U-PMax Power modules supplied by Canadian Solar and is expected to begin its commercial operations before the end of December 2018.
Dr. Shawn Qu, Canadian Solar chairman and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to partner with Bancomext and Banco Sabadell to support Mexico’s goal of reaching 35% renewable energy by 2024. We already have a 436 MWp late-stage pipeline with contracted PPAs in Mexico. These solar projects will enable Canadian Solar to create many local jobs across the Aguascalientes, Hermosillo and Obregón regions.”
Founded in 2001, Canadian Solar is a manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and one of the world’s largest solar power companies. It has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects in various stages of development.
Bancomext is a Mexican development bank and export credit agency.
Banco Sabadell is a commercial banking group headquartered in Spain.
