Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd., an
Irish clean-energy developer, raised $70 million, including a
$52 million loan from China Development Bank Corp., for a 33-
megawatt wind farm in southern Chile.
The remaining $18 million will be funded by Mainstream’s
own equity, Chief Executive Officer Eddie O’Connor said by
phone. Construction has already started and the wind farm is
expected to open in September with Mainstream selling the energy
directly to the spot market.
“We like Chile — it is a place which welcomes foreign
investment,” O’Connor said yesterday from Johannesburg. “We
haven’t found too many barriers to entry — it’s a stable
political market, a good place to do business and it is very
open and has a need for power.” Mainstream is building another,
150-megawatt wind farm in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
Chile expects to triple generating capacity in the next 15
years because of rising demand from mining companies. “With
average industrial tariffs around $120 a megawatt-hour, wind and
solar sources are fully competitive,” said Eduardo Tabbush, an
analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Several wind projects
in Chile sell directly to the market, given the very high energy
prices which have reached $300 a megawatt-hour at times.”
Mainstream said last year it was seeking loans from Chinese
state banks and equipment from Chinese manufacturers as western
banks rein in spending. The project will use turbines supplied
by Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., China’s largest
wind-turbine maker. Mainstream is still considering a listing in
China as the need for liquidity is still there, O’Connor said.
Outside of Chile, Mainstream is working with utilities from
Portugal and China on a potential 5,000-megawatt link to export
wind power from Ireland to the U.K. It’s also building one wind
and two solar plants in South Africa at a cost of 500 million
euros ($682 million).
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
