Canadian Solar secures funds for 68 MW Mexican project

The $45 million loan was granted by French financial services provider, Natixis. The solar facility, selected by the Mexican governmemt in the first energy auction of 2016, will be located in the state of Aguascalientes.

Canadian Solar was awarded a supply of 141 gigawatt hours per year in the auction.

Image: Canadian Solar

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Chinese-Canadian PV module maker, Canadian Solar Inc. has closed financing for a 68 MW solar PV project in Aguascalientes.

The company said in a statement that the $45 million financing for the project was granted by French bank, Natixis, which is part of the BPCE group.

The project was assigned to Canadian Solar under Mexico’s first long-term energy auction, which was held by the Mexican government in 2016. The generated electricity will be sold to the Federal Electricity Commission under a 15-year PPA for energy and capacity, and a 20 year agreement for Clean Energy Certificates, for around US$47.95/MWh, the company said.

According to the Secretary of Energy (Sener), Canadian Solar was awarded a supply of 141 gigawatt hours per year in the auction.

Construction on the facility started in April, with completion scheduled for the end of 2018, in line with the auction’s deadline. Around 200,000 CS6U-P polycrystalline modules will be used for the project.

The price at which Canadian Solar was awarded the project is somewhat higher than the auction’s average price, which stood at $45.15 per megawatt hour, according to estimates by the association, Asolmex.

In the third auction held last year, Canadian Solar secured another three solar projects totaling 367 MW. One of the three projects, located in Sonora, is currently advancing in its development phase.