Saeta Yield completes the acquisition of the Carapé I and II wind farms in Uruguay

José Luis Martínez Dalmau, Saeta Yield’s Chairman and CEO, signed the acquisition of 100 per cent of Carapé I & II, two wind farms in operation in Uruguay, for a total outlay of approximately $ 65 m. This is Saeta Yield’s first international operation, which diversifies its portfolio and represents a 12% increase of its total installed capacity to 884 MW.

The acquisition of Carapé I & II has been agreed with Corporación América and Grupo San José and will be funded with Saeta Yield’s available own funds. The effective account consolidation of the assets will take place from 25 May, 2017 onwards.

The wind farms are located in the Maldonado Province, Uruguay, comprise a total of 31 3.075 MW Vestas V112 wind turbine generators and have a total capacity of 95 MW, with a load factor of 44%.

Both facilities have been in operation for over a year and sell their power under a longterm power purchase agreement (PPA) – at $ 76 per MWh – with the National Administration of Power Plants and Electrical Transmissions (UTE), the main electric utility and the operator of the power transmission network in Uruguay. The average remaining life of these price agreements is 21 years.

The acquisition is additive in terms of value, and has a double-digit internal equity rate of return for the funds invested by Saeta Yield. Likewise, these assets will generate additional cash flows right from the first year, which means the project will entail a cash yield exceeding 10 per cent – before taking into account the funding cost.