Sonnedix, Natixis Close Financing for 100 MW Solar Portfolio

Sonnedix and Natixis have successfully closed senior facilities totaling USD 87 million for an expected 100 MW solar PV portfolio in Chile.

Sonnedix, a global solar independent power producer (IPP), and Natixis have successfully closed senior facilities totaling USD 87 million for an expected 100 MW portfolio (Sonnedix PMGD Portfolio) of approximately 20 solar photovoltaic plants in Chile.

The Portfolio consists of solar PV projects that operate under Chile’s special regime for distributed generation projects. PMGD projects are entitled to be remunerated for their generation at a regulated stabilised price. The four initial solar PV plants in the portfolio have total capacity of 25 MWp.

“This financing allows us to further expand our presence in the Chilean market and helps establishing Sonnedix as a strong contributor to the country’s long-term commitment to renewables and stable regulatory environment,” said Axel Thiemann, CEO of Sonnedix. “We continue actively seeking opportunities to invest and develop projects that will help achieve key strategic goals for the country’s power system.”

The financing structure provides the firm with the flexibility to add additional solar PV PMGD projects to the portfolio, subject to meeting pre-defined eligibility criteria. Sonnedix plans to add two new plants to the Portfolio, with a combined capacity of 14 MWp, by June 2020, and projects with a further 61 MWp in combined capacity during the term loan availability period.

“This marks the fourth PMGD loan portfolio term financing arranged by Natixis over the past 12 months; these transactions further consolidate Natixis’ leadership amongst financial institutions in the PMGD space,” said Aitor Alava, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure Finance, Latin America at Natixis.

The PMGD regime was created in 2005 with the goal of incentivising greener and more distributed electricity generation. The firm claims that its portfolio contributes to these goals, and more broadly to the country’s target of 20 percent of installed electricity generation capacity being from non-conventional renewable sources by 2025.