EDF La Ventosa

Summary of Proposed Investment

This Summary of Proposed Investment is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of the IFC Board of Directors’ consideration of the proposed transaction. Its purpose is to enhance the transparency of IFC’s activities, and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board decision. Board dates are estimates only.

Project number

28070

Company name

Electrica del Valle de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V.

Country

Mexico

(IDA)

Sector

Wind Power - Renewable Energy Generation

Environmental category

Department

Reg Ind, Infra & Nat Res, CAF/CLA

Status

Active

Date SPI disclosed	December 22, 2009
Projected board date	February 1, 2010
Previous Events	Invested: December 7, 2010 Signed: August 26, 2010 Approved: July 23, 2010

View Environmental & Social Review Summary (ESRS), click here

Overview

Sponsor/Cost/Location

Development Impact

Contacts

Attachments

Project description

Eléctrica del Valle de México S. de R.L. de C.V. (“EVM” or the “Company”) is currently developing and constructing a 67.5 MW greenfield wind power plant that consists of the installation of 27 Clipper “Liberty” wind turbine generators with a nominal capacity of 2.5 MW each, an associated substation and control facilities, and a 115 kV transmission line from the Project site to the Juchitán II substation of Comisión Federal de Electricidad (“the Project”).

The Project is located in the Ejidos of La Mata and La Ventosa in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 15 km north of the city of Juchitán in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. The Project is configured as a line of 20 turbines in La Mata and a separate line of seven turbines in La Ventosa, both of which are approximately 2.5 km from the nearest community. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec has one of the most prolific wind resources globally, and the Project is expected to produce approximately 290 GWh annually on average over a 10 year period, which corresponds to approximately 49% capacity utilization. The Project is being developed under Mexico’s self-supply or “autoabastecimiento” framework and will supply its energy to four subsidiaries of Wal-Mart de Mexico S. A. B. de C.V. under 15-year self supply power purchase agreements.

Project construction is well advanced: all 27 turbines are erected, the substation and control facilities are complete and the transmission line is completed. According to current estimates, the Project is expected to be complete and commissioned by year-end 2009.

Project sponsor and major shareholders of project company

EVM is 99.2% indirectly-owned by EDF Energies Nouvelles S.A. (“EDF-EN” or the “Sponsor”). EDF-EN is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and is 50%-owned by Electricité de France (“EDF”). EDF-EN is a leading developer of renewable energy projects, with over 2500 MW of wind power projects in operation and close to 13000 MW under development, mainly in Southern Europe and the United States.

Under Mexico’s “autoabastecimiento” framework, each of the four Wal-Mart de México S. A. B. de C.V. subsidiaries (Nueva Wal-Mart de México S. de R.L. de C.V. , Operadora Vips S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios Administrativos Wal-Mart S. de R.L. de C.V., and Suburbia S. de R.L. de C.V.) also have a small shareholding in the Company.

Total project cost and amount and nature of IFC's investment

The total Project cost is estimated at approximately MXN$2.2 billion (approx. US$189 million equivalent). IFC is considering providing Mexican Peso (“MXN”) denominated senior debt to the Project in an amount of up to MXN$280 million (equivalent to approx. US$21.5 million). Other senior lenders to the Project are expected to include the Inter-American Development Bank (“IDB”) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. IFC is also considering supporting the Project with up to US$15 million of financing from the Clean Technology Fund (a fund under the World Bank administered Climate Investment Funds) on concessional terms.

Location of project and description of site

The Project is being developed in the Ejido of La Mata in the municipality of Asunción Ixtaltepec in the State of Oaxaca, and the Ejido La Ventosa in the municipality of Juchitán de Zaragoza in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.

The turbine towers are located along two lines: one comprised of 20 wind turbine generators covering approx.4.8 km in length in La Mata and the other comprised of seven wind turbine generators covering approx. 1.7 km in La Ventosa.

The Project also consists of an associated substation located adjacent to the La Mata turbine row and a recently completed toll-road, and a 10-km 115 kV transmission line from the Project site to the Juchitán II substation of Comisión Federal de Electricidad (“CFE”) that will run parallel to CFE’s existing transmission line. Once completed, the new transmission line will replace CFE’s existing line and will be transferred to and operated by CFE.

The Project site is located in an area of agricultural farmland used primarily for sorghum cultivation and livestock grazing with small patches of low deciduous forest. The Project layout and design has taken into consideration the ongoing land-use activities and is expected to have limited impact on the farming activities.

All land for the Project and associated facilities has already been contracted under 30-year Land Lease Agreements (Contractos de Usufructo) with the ejidatarios of La Mata and La Ventosa.

Anticipated development impact of the project

The Project will have a number of important benefits, including:

(i) Supporting the Government of Mexico in its pledge to aggressively reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 and transition to a low carbon economy. The Project is expected to generate approx. 290 GWh per annum of clean, non-fossil fuel dependent electricity generation that will displace an estimated 156,000 tCO2e per annum, leading to improved air quality and climate change mitigation;

(ii) Contributing to economic and community development in the Ejidos of La Mata and La Ventosa, one of the poorest areas in the State of Oaxaca and Mexico. The Project will provide an important monthly income source to the individual ejidatario landowners upon whose land the wind farm and associated transmission interconnection facilities are installed. In addition, each of the landowners will continue to have access to and use of their land which can continue to be used for agricultural activities. While construction is now largely complete, the Project created approx. 150 temporary local jobs under an initiative to employ local community members, including women, for unskilled labor positions during the construction phase of the Project. In addition, EVM utilized selected construction equipment and materials, such as gravel, sourced from the local community for the Project. Finally, in consultation and coordination with the local community, EVM will also implement and undertake a community development program following the completion of the Project to ensure continued benefits to the Ejido communities;

(iii) The Project will also have an important demonstration effect and send a market signal to global wind power developers that the Mexican wind power market is viable and ready for scale-up. Despite the fact that the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has a world-class wind resource with average wind speeds in the 8-12 m/s range, Mexico had only 88 MW of fully-commissioned and operational wind projects at the end of 2008; with four additional wind projects (including the EVM project) completing their construction during 2009 and in various phases of final commissioning and interconnection to the Mexican power grid. The successful completion and project financing of the incremental 67.5 MW of installed capacity of Project the will send an important signal thereby helping to catalyze and accelerate the development of wind power potential in the State of Oaxaca; and

(iv) Cumulative assessment of bird impacts will be a first in the Project geographic area and ongoing monitoring and collection of additional bird data is anticipated to eventually result in development of a standard collision risk model for avian impact assessment for the wind sector in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. This will be a significant tool for assessing wind project impacts and have a demonstration effect for the industry and would ultimately support and enable Government of Mexico policy.

IFC's expected development contribution

IFC’s role and additionality in the financing of the Project include:

(i) Counter-cyclicality under current financial market conditions. IFC is helping to provide and mobilize long-term project financing at a time when the amounts and tenor needed to appropriately leverage the Project are not available in the market; and

(ii) Helping the Project to have an important demonstration effect through the successful long-term project financing of a 67.5 MW wind power project which will send a market signal to global wind power developers that the Mexican wind power market is viable, bankable and ready for scale-up.

Environmental and social issues - Category B

The Project has been classified as a Category B project according to IFC’s Environmental and Social Review Procedure because it has a small total physical footprint from platforms, roads, substation and ancillary facilities (approximately 16 hectares) and limited environmental and social impacts that can be readily addressed through accepted good engineering practices. The Project footprint does not directly impact or touch any protected area/habitat and will physically affect less than 0.5% of total Ejido lands in La Mata and La Ventosa. Based on migration patterns, the space above the wind farms may at times constitute natural habitat critical to migratory species, however given that there are only 27 turbines, risks and impacts to birds and bats is not considered significant. Sections of the Isthmus, particularly coastal areas and the Sierra Tolistoque mountain range, form part of a bird migration corridor which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. According to results of bird monitoring activities carried out in 2007 and 2008, the Project’s site is not located within a high bird traffic zone in either the fall or spring migratory seasons. The Project entails no involuntary physical resettlement and only marginal economic displacement. All land where turbines, access roads and the substation are located was formerly agricultural land and/or existing roads, and is being leased by EVM at market rates on voluntary basis. Land for the transmission line is located within a contractual right of way (ROW) and will replace an existing transmission line and entails no displacement or additional impacts.

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