IDB approves loans for Uruguayan wind farms

• 11 years ago (2012-12-08)
• Junior Isles

Renewables 752

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Two loans worth $107.7 million have been approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to finance the construction of the El Libertador and Palmatir wind farms in Uruguay.

The IDB financing is aimed at helping diversify Uruguay's energy portfolio and reduce its dependence on hydro generation, which forces the country to run additional baseload fossil fuel plants during the dry season. This move will reduce Uruguay’s carbon footprint and make it less vulnerable to fluctuations in the price of oil.

Uruguay currently has 2578 MW of power generation capacity, 60 per cent of which comes from hydro plants, 33 per cent from fossil fuels and the remaining from biomass and wind energy.

The El Libertador wind farm will be developed by WPE, a fully-owned subsidiary of Brazilian renewables firm IMPSA, and one of the largest Latin American developers of wind energy. It will be located in the department of Lavalleja and is set to receive a $66 million loan from the IDB to cover the construction and installation of its 44 Vensys IMPSA wind turbines.

The Palmatir wind farm will be developed by Abengoa S.A, and will be located in the department of Tacuaremb. The Palmatir project will receive $41.7 million in IDB financing for constructing and installing 25 Gamesa wind turbines.

These projects will have a combined power generation capacity of the 115 MW, and will save the emission of about 302 000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year.

"These projects will be the first two wind farms to be financed by the IDB that are developed within the programme launched by UTE, the state-owned electricity company, to promote private sector participation in the renewable energy sector,'' said Jean-Marc Aboussouan, Chief of the Infrastructure Division at the IDB unit which handles large scale private sector project financing.

"The long-term financing provided by the IDB will allow Uruguay to take advantage of the global advances in the wind energy sector as well as improvements in technology and cost reductions that have made wind power a competitive energy source."