Atlas Renewable Energy Wins Accolades in Latin America

Miami-based Atlas Renewable Energy has been awarded IJGlobal’s 2020 Latin America Sponsor of the Year Award for the company’s contributions to accelerating the region’s transformation to clean energy.

In just 2020, the company signed three major financing contracts: Ananuca worth USD 253 Million, Lar do Sol – Casablanca worth USD 150 million and New Juazeiro for USD 67 Million. These collaborations allowed Atlas to increase its total capacity of contracted projects to 2.2 GW, of which a large portion has been enabled through corporate PPAs with private offtakers.

The company has also partnered with financial institutions such as IDB Invest to develop one of its most ambitious social initiatives: the female workforce program “We are all part of the same energy” in which Atlas is committed to train close to 1,000 women in the communities surrounding its projects under construction and is aiming to reach a target of over 15% of female representation within the total workforce during the execution of these projects.

“Fundamentally, we are looking to demonstrate renewables’ ability to be both a sustainable and competitively priced source of energy. And we do so by working together with great partners to find groundbreaking solutions while simultaneously trying to address social issues and promote high sustainability standards,” said Carlos Barrera, CEO of Atlas Renewable Energy.

“I’d like to thank IJGlobal for these awards as well as the financial institutions DNB Markets and IDB Invest, among others, for becoming an ally in accelerating the energy transition in the region,” he added.

The company was also awarded Latin America Solar Deal of the Year Award for its Ananuca Financial Deal, which refinanced the Javiera Solar Plant (69.5MW) and financed the construction of the Sol del Desierto Solar Project (230MW) in Chile.

The Ananuca Solar Deal in Chile was the largest solar bond in Latin America at the time of signing. With a unique structure, the deal combined the financing of the construction of a new solar project (Sol del Desierto) and the refinancing of an existing operating plant (Javiera). The two solar PV generation assets have been combined under a single financing portfolio providing investors with key structural benefits and synergies of cross-collateralized assets and cross-guaranteed cash flows.

The 253-million-dollar financing was secured through DNB Markets, which acted as Sole Lead Placement Agent for the notes, under a US Private Placement (USPP) in Green Bond format. The bond was issued under Atlas Renewable Energy’s Green Finance Framework, which is aligned with 2018 versions of the ICMA Green Bond Principles and the LMA Green Loan Principles. This framework recognizes and attests to the company’s commitment to developing projects that protect and preserve the environment while adhering to the highest standards of environmental engagement.

“We are honored to have been awarded solar deal of the year for our Ananuca Deal. This pioneering deal structure provided new avenues for solar financing in the region and furthers Atlas’ innovative approach to project financing working alongside DNB Markets. I’d also like to recognize the support and dedication that DNB Markets has shown to the renewable energy sector in advancing Latin America’s energy transformation,” said Michael Shea, Head of Structured Finance at Atlas Renewable Energy.

Atlas Renewable Energy is a renewable energy generation company that develops, builds and operates renewable energy projects with long-term contracts across the Americas. The current company portfolio is 2.2GW of contracted projects in development, construction or operational stages, and aims to expand by an additional 4GW in the next years.