Acciona secures funding for Mexican wind farm

Acciona has secured US$ 375 million (€ 314 million) of funding to develop the Eurus Wind Park in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.

With 205,5 MW already in service, the Eurus Wind Park has the highest installed capacity in Latin America and is Acciona's biggest such project globally. Once completed, production will cover up to 25% of the electricity requirements of the Cemex cement plants in the country and will cut CO₂ emissions by around 600000 tonnes/year.

The financing for the Wind Park is in the shape of credit agreements with ten separate financial institutions including the International Finance Corporation, Banco Interamericano Desarrollo and Corporacion Financiera Andina. Other institutions funding the project include Nacional Financiera, Banco Interamericano de Comercio Exterior, BBVA, Banco Spirito Santo, the Instituto de Credito Oficial of Spain, France's Promotion et Participation pour la Cooperation Economique and Germany's Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungs Gesellschaft.

An Acciona spokesperson said, "All the signatories have expressed their satisfaction at reaching the agreement, which is part of the objective of the Mexican government to diversify its energy mix and reduce the Country's emissions of greenhouse gasses."

In addition to the Eurus Wind Park, Acciona has been given approval for the construction and operation of a further three wind farms in the State of Oaxaca with a total capacity of 306 MW. The three wind farms will require an investment of approximately US$ 562 million (€ 450 million) and construction is scheduled to commence later this year with commercial operation due to start in December 2011.