Atlantica Yield acquires Uruguay wind farm
Uruguayan law firm Jiménez de Aréchaga, Viana & Brause has advised UK-based renewable energy company Atlantica Yield on its acquisition of a wind farm from the local subsidiary of Italian company Enel Green Power.
The 50-megawatt facility, Melowind (pictured), is located in Cerro Largo, about 200 miles from Montevideo.
The facility has been in operation since 2015 and has a 20-year US dollar-denominated power purchase agreement for 100 per cent of the electricity produced with state-owned power company UTE.
The transaction was valued at around $45 million and was partially financed with the proceeds of a project financing from Banco Santander, according to Atlantica Yield.
With this acquisition, Atlantica increases its market share in Uruguay’s wind sector, where it now owns 150 megawatts of installed capacity.
“Melowind fits our strategy, brings a long contract with an off-taker with whom we already work and is a very complementary asset that we expect will have clear synergies with our existing wind portfolio,” Santiago Seage, CEO of Atlantica Yield, said.
Jiménez de Aréchaga advised Atlántica Yield on the bidding process for the acquisition, and also assigned a second team to advise Banco Santander in both Spain and Uruguay on a project financing deal for $82.6 million to local import-export company Estrellada for the repayment of loans for the project’s construction.
