Financing secured for Costa Rica wind farm

Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy Limited (GME), a subsidiary company of Globeleq Generation Limited and Mesoamerica Power Ltd., has secured US$149 million in long-term debt financing to develop the 80 MW Alisios wind project in North Costa Rica.

The project debt financing and syndication was completed in April 2016 by The Netherlands Development Finance Company FMO, (who acted as Mandated Lead Arranger with US$70.2 million (and excluding the B-loan participations done in April 2016), Proparco, the private sector investment arm of the French development body Agence Française de Développement (since October 2015 with US$53 million) and OeEB, the Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (since April 2016 with US$13.125 million). Triodos Groenfonds and Oikocredit, both from The Netherlands, took participations under FMO’s B loan (with an aggregate amount of US$13,125,000).

The Alisios wind projects include four 20 MW wind farms in Costa Rica: 

• The Altamira and Campos Azules sites are located in the north of Costa Rica, 120km North West of San Jose. The wind farms are located in a hilly terrain with an average elevation of 685 m for the Altamira wind farm and 610m for the Campos Azules wind farm. Land mainly consists of agricultural land surrounded by forested areas.
• The Vientos de La Perla and Vientos de Miramar sites are located in the north of Costa Rica, 180 km North West of San Jose. The wind farms are located in a hilly terrain with an average elevation of 630 m for the La Perla wind farm and 550m for the Miramar wind farm. Land mainly consists of agricultural land surrounded by forested areas.

The projects will use a combination of Gamesa G87 and G90 wind turbines. In addition to the turbines and their foundations, networks of 34.5kV array cabling will be constructed, collecting the energy generated by the turbines and transmitting it to interconnection substations which will be located in Tejona and Orosi. A network of on-site roads will be constructed to allow construction and maintenance of the projects.

Mr. Jay Gallegos, CEO of Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy and Alisios, commented upon this final closing:

“Our first wind farm PESRL went into commercial operation in 1996 in Costa Rica. We still operate the plant with exceptional availabilities, with annual average wind speeds over 12 meters per second. Since then, we have grown to become the leading wind power company in the region by focusing on certain fundamental principles: greenfield development which allows us to control quality in terms of the technical merits of the projects, best practices in social, environmental, health & safety, regional leadership on policy, ethics and sustainability, and operational excellence. This is possible only because of our competent and committed staff of professionals.

We are very appreciative of our relationship with such high quality international financiers, who provide long term debt funding. I would like to highlight the late stage inclusion of two cranes, which will ensure timely corrective maintenance over the life of the projects. It has been a pleasure to work together to make these projects a reality.”

Mrs. Linda Broekhuizen, CIO of FMO added:

“Supporting sponsors with investments in wind farms like Alisios has been part of FMO’s energy strategy for years, supporting job creation and much needed clean and renewable energy in developing countries. The management and teams of GME and Alisios continuously demonstrate their professionalism, commitment and agility to execute their long-term investment plans and day-to-day operations. On behalf of Proparco, OeEB, Triodos Groenfonds and Oikocredit and all our other partners, we are grateful and proud to be associated with the largest wind farm developer in the region.”