FMO, together with IDB Invest and Proparco announced the financing of Capella Solar, a 140 MWp solar photovoltaic power plant in El Salvador. The power plant will be connected to a 3 MW/1.5 MWh lithium-ion battery system, making it the largest energy storage installation to be rolled out in Central America to date. 3% of the power plant’s annual revenues will go to FUSAL (link), a non-for-profit foundation that runs social projects in El Salvador
Capella Solar is the second project that Neoen, France’s leading independent producer of renewable energy, will operate in El Salvador after Neoen’s teams capitalized on the experience gained in the 101 MWp Providencia Solar project commissioned in 2017. The facility is wholly-owned by Neoen and is due to be commissioned in early 2020.
"We are pleased and honored to expand our solar investments in El Salvador with Neoen, a producer well-known to FMO,” said Ewout van der Molen, FMO manager Energy Latin America & Caribbean. “As Capella Solar combines a 100% renewable energy project with strong positive climate impacts and benefits for the local community, it fully aligns with our strategic ambitions."
| Photo: Signing ceremony with producer Neoen and Development finance institutions FMO, IDB Invest and Proparco |
FMO and IDB Invest - acting as co-lead arrangers - and Proparco are providing the senior debt for the project, representing a total investment of 143 million USD. The figure includes the cost of a 3 MW/1.5 MWh LG Chem lithium-ion battery system, installed by Nidec and connected to deliver grid services to ease the integration of the renewable plant. The project will be built by a consortium consisting of TSK and Gensun.
Neoen won the project through a competitive public-tender held in 2016 and organized by Delsur, one of El Salvador’s largest electricity distributors. Capella Solar was awarded a 20-year power purchase agreement denominated in US Dollars with local distributors Delsur, AES, EDESAL and B&D at a price below grid parity of US$49.6/MWh. The contracted electricity it will supply will thus be the most competitively priced ever in the Salvadoran energy market.
| Photo: The Capella Solar project site in El Salvador |
More solar projects from FMO and Neoen:
PV Solar plant in Jamaica
