International law firm Clifford Chance has advised Banco Santander S.A. and CaixaBank S.A. as Mandated Lead Arrangers on the financing of the wind farm project Cerro Grande in Uruguay. The wind farm is being developed by Germany-based wind turbines manufacturer ENERCON GmbH.

The Cerro Grande wind farm comprises 22 ENERCON E-92 turbines with a production capacity of 50 MW. The distribution of the electricity produced is secured by a long-term 20-year power purchase agreement, supplying the electricity in take-or-pay manner to the local system operator Administración Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Eléctricas (UTE).

Linked to a strategic interconnection node between Uruguay and Brazil, the wind farm can supply Uruguayan as well as Brazilian electricity consumers. Its annual electricity-generating capacity is equivalent to the consumption of approximately 80.000 average local households.

With the connection to the grid of Cerro Grande wind farm, Uruguay achieves its goal of producing 100 percent renewable energy.

Clifford Chance is regularly advising in relation to the financing of large energy and infrastructure projects all over the world and in South America in particular.

The Clifford Chance team advising the lenders comprised partner Florian Mahler, senior associate Bahar Rahimyar (both project lead, Düsseldorf), counsel Florian Kutzbach, associates Natasha Fricker (both Frankfurt) and Sarah Lewis (Amsterdam) (all Project Finance/Capital Markets) as well as partner Björn Heinlein and associate Zaid Mansour (both Corporate/Energy, Düsseldorf).