June 2018
Written by Ivan Suarez, Portfolio Manager – Americas, Energy Council

The top headlines from May 2018 from the Latin America Clean Energy sector. Please contact Ivan Suarez if any specific topic is of particular interest to you so that he can tailor the news feed. 

 

Business

~ Jinko Solar made its first investment in the Southern Cone. The company financed an 80 MW solar PV plant in the San Juan province

~ YPF reported to be working on an LNG project in Bahia Blanca which would utilize gas production from Vaca Muerta

~ Echo Energy announced a Gas discovery in onshore Argentina. In the Lower Tobífera formation, the company drilled 5,774 of depth and encountered over 130 feet of gas shows

~ Vestas added up to 106MW to its Argentinian portfolio. The company finalized two projects (53MW) with Pampa Energia, increasing its Latin American share

Investment

~ Grenergy Renovables closed the financing of its 24-MW wind project in Argentina. The backing was provided by KfW IPEX-Bank. The wind farm will sell under a 20-year PPA

 

Business

~ Brazil's Petrobras reached a debt deal with Eletrobras. The renegotiation covered a US$ 5.76 billion debt owed to the state oil company. The agreement was crucial given the privatization process Eletrobras is going through

~ Brookfield Infrastructure Partners saw greater quarterly benefits from its Brazilian acquisition of a natural gas business

~ Renova Energia (Brazilian power generation and distribution company) stated it will start a restructuring process after it decided not to accept a proposal from Cemig to buy all of its shares

~ Hydroelectric and wind power generation (13GW added within the past 6 years) were reported to have contributed to the shrinking demand from Brazil’s gas-to-power sector, which traditionally accounted for up to 47% of demand in recent years

Investment

~ BNDES announced that it has supported 1,323 MW of wind projects through green bonds. Only in May the Development Bank raised US$ 1 billion internationally

~ Iberdrola will invest US$ 833 million in electricity distribution and wind projects in Brazil. The investment strategy will focus on Rio Grande do Norte during a period of five years

Auctions

~ Brazil's Eletropaulo tender was delayed until June 4. The participating companies are: Neonergia (Iberdrola) and Enel, after Energiasa retired from the bidding process

Politics

~ Absolar elected a new chair, Ronaldo Koloszuk. Koloszuk heads local firm Solar Group

Investment

~ Actis obtained financing for its acquisition of InterGen. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and Galicia Abogados assisted the PE firm in this process

Auctions

~ CFE (Utility) withdrew from an auction to procure LNG supply, regasification and storage. Pemex said that CFE's absence means a decrease in the LNG volumes to be procured

Business

~ Enel communicated it will invest US$ 97 million in Mexico. The funds will be used to expand the capacity (+10%) of 3 plants that are being built: Villanueva (754 MW, solar) Don Jose (238 MW, solar) and Salitrillos (93 MW, wind)

Colombia

~ Celsia expressed it wants to bring online the first of two wind projects in the country by 2021

~ The country took action to grow its solar capacity with a resolution that will allow distributed generation and a long-term power auction in 2018. Small-scale solar power generators (capacity up to 5 MW) will be allowed to supply energy to the national grid

Peru

~ UK government and the Lima Stock Exchange published a green bond guide: it contains best practices from international case studies and basic principles to issue green bonds to finance energy projects

~ President Martin Vizcarra said he is in favor of promoting mining development if it is done in an environmentally responsible way

~ Valero agreed to purchase Pure Biofuels Del Peru from private equity firm Pegasus Capital Advisors. This is a move from the North American firm to expand into South America