SunEdison, Inc. announced yesterday the closing of a $212.5 million non-recourse debt financing arrangement with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government's development finance institution.

The debt proceeds will be used to finance the construction of a SunEdison owned 100MWp solar power plant in the Atacama Desert,Chile. SunEdison expects to complete construction of this power plant in Q1 of 2014.

IFC provided $65 million of debt, while OPIC provided a $147.5 million parallel loan. Rabobank provided a local Chilean Peso VAT facility worth $45 million. The total value of the debt for this transaction is approximately $260.5 million.

The construction of the 100 MWp plant began in August 2013 and its interconnection is expected to take place in different phases throughout the fourth quarter of 2013 and first quarter of 2014. The power plant "Amanecer Solar CAP" is expected to be the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in Latin America and will inject energy directly to the Central Interconnected System (SIC). The project is originated from an agreement signed in January 2013 with the mining and steel company CAP.

Located in the town near the city of Copiapo, Atacama Region, the project covers an area of approximately 215 hectares and will feature more than 300,000 SunEdison Silvantis™ photovoltaic solar modules mounted on SunEdison AP90 single-axis solar trackers. Once fully completed, it is expected to be the largest solar photovoltaic plant in Latin America. In its first year of operation, the system is expected to generate 270 GWh per year of clean energy, avoiding the emission of over 135,000 tons of CO2, equivalent to removing more than 30,000 cars from the streets.

Source: SunEdison