WiredInUSA September 2016

INDEX

The national energy commission of Chile has awarded contracts to Mainstream Renewable Power to build and operate seven utility-scale wind energy plants with a total investment value of $1.65 billion. The projects, awarded by twenty-year term contracts, are located throughout Chile and are scheduled to begin supplying energy into the grid from January 2021. All seven projects will be fully owned by Mainstream. Mainstream was among the leading beneficiaries in what has been described as the biggest, and most competitive, electricity tender in the country’s history. Eighty-four companies submitted 85,000GWh of bids for the 12,000GWh of available power – nearly seven times more power than could be awarded. This is the first time Mainstream has participated independently in a Chilean bid. Since entering the Chilean market in 2009, Mainstream has developed a comprehensive portfolio of wind and solar energy projects in the country, extending to over 2,000MW across more than 40 projects from Arica, in the north, to Puerto Power plans

Montt in the south. Through its joint venture with Actis (Aela Energia), Mainstream has an additional 300MW of wind projects, won in the 2015 auction, due to begin construction this year, and a 33MW wind farm which has been in operation since 2014. Canadian Solar Inc has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the federal electricity commission (CFE) for a 63MW solar power plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The project was awarded in April 2016 under Mexico’s first long-term electricity auction, and is expected to be generating electricity by September 2018. All the electricity generated will be sold to the CFE under the PPA for a 15-year period. Dr Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, commented: “We will continue to leverage our global project development and execution capability [and] to expand our global late-stage solar project pipeline to meet the growing demand of clean solar energy in Mexico and around the world.”

wiredInUSA - September 2016

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