Clifford Chance advises on Mexico solar project financing
Clifford Chance acted for 174 Power Global as sponsor in the project financing for Laguna Solar, a 101-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant planned for the northern state of Coahuila.
174 Power Global is an affiliate of Hanwha Group, a South Korean renewable energy company. The $74m solar project financing package was provided by local foreign trade bank Bancomext and the Korea Development Bank.
Construction has yet to begin on the Laguna Solar project, but the country’s environment ministry (Semarnat) issued a permit for the project in February, giving it the go-ahead.
The plant will further bolster Coahuila state’s position as a major solar power generator, and which is already home to the 754-megawatt Villanueva facility (pictured), the country’s largest, which opened in March.
Clifford Chance’s team was led by partner Fabricio Longhin, and which also included senior associate Alberto Haito and associates Alan Sakar Azuara and Eli Keene.
The law firm has been involved in energy projects in Mexico since the 2013 energy reform, which allowed for more private participation in the sector, both in electric power and oil and gas. The reforms also ushered in a series of auctions for power generation projects as well as for onshore, shallow and deepwater oil and gas field development.
