Peru secures loan for first two wind projects

PERU: US power generator firm ContourGlobal, has clinched a $95 million bridge loan from Peruvian development bank Corporacion Financiera de Desarrollo for Peru's first two utility scale wind plants.

by James Quilter 15 March 2013

The Talara (30.6MW) and Cupisnique (81MW) developments are located in the regions of Piura and La Libertad, respectively. Total investment is approximately $250 million. The projects are under construction and will use Vestas 1.8MW turbines.

Commissioning is scheduled for end-2013. Both wind farms have 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) under Peru's renewable energy resources (RER) programme.

The Peruvian government is yet to fix a renewables target, but it is pushing wind to help meet power demand, expected to grow 12% annually to 2016.

In its 144MW February 2012 power auction, the government also granted a PPA to the 32MW Marcona wind project, in addition to Talara and Cupisnique.

Since then, it has granted wind prospecting concessions for more than 300MW to Spain's Endesa and Elecnor as well as local developer Energía Renovable Peruana.