Infraestructura Energetica Nova (IEnova), a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, has closed a $270 million financing agreement to construct the 155 MW first phase of the Energia Sierra Juarez wind project in Mexico.
The lenders under the facility are providing the project with long-term debt maturing 18 years following commercial operation of the project. The financing was provided by a syndicate of banks, with Mizuho Bank Ltd. acting as coordinating lead arranger; the North American Development Bank as the technical and modeling bank; and Nacional Financiera SNC Institucion de Banca de Desarrollo, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. as lenders. In addition, the project has entered into a value-added tax credit facility with Banco Santander SA.
‘This financing agreement is another key milestone in the development of the Energia Sierra Juarez project and an important component of our business model and growth strategy,’ says Carlos Ruiz Sacristan, chairman and chief executive officer of IEnova.
This cross-border project will be built between Mexico and the U.S., with generating assets located in Mexico and transmission infrastructure headed into the latter country. The first phase of Energia Sierra Juarez is an approximately $300 project consisting of 47 3.3-MW Vestas turbines. Expected to come online during the first half of 2015, the wind farm has a 20-year power purchase agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric.
Recently, IEnova announced that it has entered into an agreement with InterGen to sell a 50% interest in the project's first phase. That transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in Mexico and the U.S.
