Infraestructura Energética Nova (IEnova) has announced the execution and funding of a US$270 million project financing, including letter of credit facilities, for the construction of the first phase of the Energía Sierra Juárez wind project.
This project is the first cross-border wind-generation project to be constructed between Mexico and the USA, with generating assets located in Mexico and transmission infrastructure located in both countries. The project financing was provided by a syndicate of banks with Mizuho Bank as coordinating lead arranger, the North American Development Bank as technical and modelling bank, and Nacional Financiera, Institución de Banca de Desarrollo, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation as lenders. In addition, the project has entered into a value added tax credit facility for up to MX$455 million with Banco Santander (Mexico). Located in the Municipality of Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, and San Diego County, CA, USA, the first phase of Energía Sierra Juárez is an approximately US$300 million, 155MW wind-generation project consisting of 47, 3.3MW Vestas turbines. Expected to come online during the first half of 2015, Energía Sierra Juárez has a 20-year power purchase agreement with the San Diego Gas & Electric.
