Neoen commissions 101 MW solar facility in El Salvador

French independent power producer Neoen has announced that its 101 Providencia Solar PV power project in El Salvador is now operational.

The plant, which is the largest PV installation inthe Central American nation, consists of the 76 MW Antares facility, which was selected in a recent energy auction, and the 25 MW Spica section, which is now providing local power distributor DelSur with electricity.

The project, which is located in the La Paz region, close to the country’s capital city San Salvador, was connected to the grid on April 1. The official commissioning ceremony was held on Tuesday and was attended by representatives of the government and the energy regulator Consejo Nacional de Energía (CNE).

The 76 MW unit is selling power to the national grid at a price of $0.1019/kWh. According to the CNE, this price is 18% lower than the average price for power of $0.1236/kWh registered during the first quarter of this year.

The project’s required investment amounts to $151 million. Corporación Interamericana de Inversiones (CII) provided $88 million, while Proparco contributed with $30 million. Neoen invested $33 million of its own funds into the project.

Neoen was awarded the largest volume of capacity in the renewable energy auction held by the local government in 2014. Overall, the CNE allocated 94 MW of solar in the auction, of which 76 MW is represented by the Providencia Solar project.

Neoen also won a PPA for 136 MW of solar in the country’s second auction for renewable energy which was held in March of this year. This plant will sell power to the national grid at a price lower than $50/MWh.