Jujuy is seeking financing from the Export-Import Bank of China for a project to expand its 300 MW Cauchari solar power farm in the northwestern province of Jujuy, Gov. Gerardo Morales told LatinFinance.
The project calls for adding 200 MW of capacity to the plant with an investment of around $170 million.
China Exim Bank has tentatively agreed to finance 85% of the project at an interest rate of 3%, he said on the sidelines of a seminar held on Tuesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina. The province will put in the rest of the money, he added.
In December 2017, China Exim Bank provided a 15-year, $332 million loan at a rate of 3% to finance the first phase of the project to build 300 MW of capacity.
Jujuy Energía y Minería Sociedad del Estado (JEMSE), a state-run mining and power company spearheading the project, has signed a preliminary agreement with Power China and Shanghai Electric Power Construction to build the additional capacity. The solar power plant – the largest in South America – is located in La Puna, an arid high-altitude plateau that has among the highest irradiance levels in the world, a key for solar power generation. JEMSE has a 20-year power purchase agreement to sell output on the national grid.