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Washington D.C., June 9, 2010—
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has arranged $375 million in financing for a 250-megawatt wind farm that will support the expansion of private power generation in Mexico, while helping develop the frontier region of Oaxaca.
Eurus, the largest wind farm in Latin America, is located in Oaxaca State, an area with one of the best wind resources in the world. Developing wind projects in Mexico will contribute to the country’s clean energy supply and to global climate change mitigation efforts. The project is expected to displace an estimated 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually.
The project sponsor, Acciona Energía SA, is a leading global player in renewable energy and one of the world’s biggest developers, constructors, and operators of wind farms. IFC is lending $71 million of its own account to the $600 million project. IFC, along with the Inter-American Development Bank as co-arranger, also has syndicated $62 million from commercial banks and mobilized $242 million from a diverse group of parallel lenders, including multilateral, bilateral, and Mexican development finance institutions.
Bernard Sheahan, IFC Director for Infrastructure, said, “IFC has focused on supporting renewable energy generation in Mexico, to encourage more investment in the region. We are pleased to work with Acciona Energía S.A., a global sponsor that has the financial capability and technical expertise to bring a wind project of such magnitude to reality in the region.”
Miguel Angel Alonso, Director of ACCIONA Energa, said, “We welcome the support of IFC for this important project. Acciona Energía’s partnership with IFC in Mexico will strengthen this project and create the conditions for further cooperation between the two institutions worldwide.
Oaxaca State is one of the lowest-income regions of Mexico. The local community will receive land-lease payments and benefit from community development and social programs established by the sponsors. The project also will generate local jobs.
IFC’s strategy in Mexico focuses on enhancing the competitiveness of the private sector; promoting access to finance for small and medium enterprises and key sectors; supporting infrastructure development, clean energy technologies; and investing in areas newly opened to private sector participation. As of June 2009, IFC’s committed portfolio in Mexico was $852 million. For more about IFC in Latin America and the Caribbean, please visit:
www.ifc.org/lac
.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing capital for private enterprise, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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About Acciona Energía S.A.
ACCIONA Energia
is a global
clean-tech operator
with more than 20 years of experience in renewables. It has installed 9,000 megawatts of electricity generation in 14 countries—7,337 megawatts are proprietary. The company has 213 wind farms, 80 hydroelectric power stations, a number of solar thermal and PV plants that rank among the biggest in the world, and biomass-fired power plants. ACCIONA Energy manufactures wind turbine generators and has biodiesel and bioethanol production units. It is part of the ACCIONA Group
,
one of Spain’s leading business corporations. For more information:
www.acciona.es
.
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