Pirapora II solar scheme raises financing
Sponsors of the second phase of the Pirapora solar project in Brazil – EDF and Omega Energia – have reached financial close on BRL118 million ($28.4 million) of project debentures (due 2031) to partially finance the scheme. The financing complements a BRL400 million loan signed at the end of 2018 with regional development bank BNB.
The project, located in the state of Minas Gerais, is backed by a 20-year PPA signed with electric power chamber of commercialisation, and was awarded in a power auction held in 2015. Biosar Brasil is the O&M contractor for the first five years of operation.
The debentures priced on 17 October at the inflation index IPCA plus 4.22%. The papers are subordinated to the financing contract with BNB. Individual investors and funds have bought the corporate paper and the project is 100% leveraged, marking a new structure. BTG Pactual was coordinating bank and financial adviser to the developer.
The SPV – officially named Pirapora Phase II – has three subsidiaries, Pirapora II, III and IV, with a total combined generation of 90MW. The SPV is part of the Pirapora complex – the holding company directly controlled by EDF and Omega – and is split into Pirapora Phase I (which reached financial close in 2018), Pirapora Phase II and Pirapora Phase III.
