Spain approves project finance loan for 50 MW Maldonado II wind project in Uruguay

A project finance loan of up to US$55.65 million has been approved by the Spanish Government for the construction of R del Este's 50 MW Maldonado II wind project in Uruguay.

The Spanish Business Internationalization Fund is financing the project along with Uruguay's state-run utility Administracion Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Electricas (UTE).

The project is an expansion of the 50 MW Maldonado I wind farm (inaugurated in April 2004) adding an additional 50 MW of generating capacity to the site.

Gamesa has been chosen to install and commission 25 of its G114-2.0 MW turbines whilst UTE will buy the generated electricity under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with terms identical to the agreement the utility signed for the first Maldonado project.

Gamesa has installed 150 MW in Uruguay to date. The company is also present in other Latin American markets including Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Argentina and Costa Rica, where it has installed almost 3,000 MW.

Numerous Uruguayan renewable energy projects are currently being financed through a debt-swap agreement between Uruguay and Spain, along with investments from UTE.