Zelestra, a renewable energy project developer, secured $282 million in a project financing package for the Aurora project, comprising a 220 MWdc solar project and approximately 1 GWh of battery energy storage system located in Tarapacá, Chile.
Natixis CIB and BNP Paribas are providing the financing, with a VAT facility granted by BCI.
The company’s internal division is responsible for engineering, procurement, and construction of the project.
The electricity generated will be supplied to the Chilean company Abastible as per a long-term power purchase agreement.
Leo Moreno, CEO of Zelestra, said, “Aurora is a landmark transaction for Zelestra and reinforces the financial community’s confidence in our customer-first strategy to develop multi-technology solutions that deliver for our clients. This is a very ambitious project that includes one of the largest battery storage projects in Latin America. With construction already underway, we are now focused on delivering the project on time and budget.”
Earlier in April, the company also secured a $113 million project financing credit facility for the 81 MW Jasper County solar project in Jasper County, Indiana. Banco Santander acted as the sole arranger of the Facility. The Project has a long-term environmental attributes purchase agreement with Meta and is expected to be fully operational in Q4 2025.
The company, backed by EQT, has a portfolio of approximately 29 GW of clean energy projects across 13 countries.
According to Mercom’s Q1 2025 Solar Funding and M&A report, announced large-scale project funding increased by 27% in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024.
Last week, Recurrent Energy, a solar and energy storage project developer and wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar, announced the closing of €61.5 million (~$70.8 million) in non-recourse debt financing for its Italian solar project portfolio. The financing package supports a portfolio comprising 124 MW of operational solar projects, as well as the construction of a co-located battery energy storage system.
