Zelestra lands green solar PF
IPP Zelestra has closed a US$176m green project financing backing its 242MW Babilonia solar farm in Arequipa, with commercial operation slated for H1 2027. Natixis and BBVA were the banks on the deal.
Babilonia has a power purchase agreement with Grupo Unacem’s energy commercialisation and generation affiliate Celepsa. Babilonia is part of the 700MW La Joya renewables complex, which includes the operational 300MW San Martin solar project and another 125MW advanced development-stage scheme. Construction started in February.
Zelestra, owned by Swedish private equity firm EQT, plans to invest at least US$1bn in renewable plants over the next five years, powering mines in copper-rich southern Peru.
Zelestra is quite active in project finance in the region and also recently closed a US$282m green project finance package backing the 220MW/1GWh Aurora solar and storage project in Tarapaca, Chile. Natixis and BNP Paribas were lenders to that deal, and BCI provided a VAT facility.
