With financing settled, construction will start soon
THE NEWS
Cementos Mexicanos, the Mexico-based global cement and building materials company known as Cemex, has moved a step closer to increasing its use of sustainable energy by completing financing for one of the largest wind farm projects in Latin America.
The project, dubbed Ventika, will consist of two 126 megawatt wind farms in General Bravo, Nuevo León. Construction will begin before the end of June and commercial operation is expected to be under way in two years., according to a statement released Thursday by the company.
Investment for the project is approximately $650 million, financed by the North American Development Bank, Spain’s biggest bank Santander, and three government development banks —Banobras, Nafin and Bancomext.
Cemex is overseeing the construction, and will manage the wind farms once they are operational. However, the company will only own a minority stake of 5 percent of the equity, and the project will not be consolidated into its balance sheet.
Cemex will also be a major user of the electricity generated by the farms, but not the only one. The beverage giant FEMSA, the steel company Deacero and the nearby university Monterrey Tech (ITESM) will also be supplied with renewable energy.
Cemex has been increasingly using renewable energy in recent years to generate power for its operations, including hydro power and waste-to-energy projects, as well as wind power. The Eurus wind farm in Oaxaca generates around 25 percent of its power needs nationally, including all of the power used by its company headquarters in Monterrey, Nuevo León.
Overseas, its cement plant in Panama consumes only electricity from a hydropower plant, and a waste-to-energy plant was built for the sole purpose of providing electricity to its Rudersdorf, Germany, cement plant.
The equity partners for Ventika are Fisterra Energy, a company majority owned by funds managed by Blackstone, Cemex and private investors.
Acciona Energía was selected as the Engineering, Procurement, and Constructor (EPC) as well as the Operation y Maintenance (OyM) contractor. All required permits and contracts with authorities to build, operate and commercialize the wind farms have been obtained.
Evercore was financial advisor for CEMEX, Santander was the leading banking agent and Banamex acted as trustee.
“We are very pleased to close this important project as we have leveraged the use of our knowledge to continue our industry-leading expertise in the use of clean energy and alternative fuels,” said Luis Farías, Cemex vice-president of energy and sustainability. “We will continue to look for other potential opportunities in the sector.”
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