Project detail - GENNEIA VIENTOS ARGENTINOS S.A.

Who is our customer

FMO’s clients are Villalonga and Chubut Norte, the project companies for two green-field wind power plants. Estimated total project costs are USD 176 million. The projects are being developed by Genneia S.A. (“Genneia”).

What is our funding objective?

The objective of FMO’s financing is to fund the development, construction, and operations of two wind farms; the 51.75MW Villalonga wind farm, which will be located 90km north of Viedma, and the 28.8MW Chubut Norte wind farm, which will be located 25km northeast of Puerto Madryn in Argentina (the “Projects”).

Why do we fund this investment?

FMO potentially funds this project as a development bank that wants to be part of the innovative renewable energy programme that Argentina is implementing. The Argentinian energy matrix consists largely (87%) out of fossil fuels and these 80.55MW wind farms will provide clean and reliable energy while contributing to the country’s objective to increase the renewable energy generation portion to 20% by 2025. The Projects contribute to the SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), in line with FMO strategy.

What is the Environmental and Social categorization rationale?

This is a category B+ project with potential limited adverse social and environmental (E&S) risk and / or impacts that are few in number, generally site-specific, largely reversible and readily addressed through mitigation measures. While this project has been screened against all Performance Standards, FMO’s E&S due diligence indicates that the investment will have impacts which must be managed in a manner consistent with the construction activities thus triggering the following Performance Standards: • PS 1 - Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts • PS 2 - Labour and Working Conditions • PS 3 - Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention • PS 4 - Community Health, Safety and Security There is however uncertainty on certain issues which requires further investigation and as such, FMO’s due diligence cannot yet rule out the possibility of the following performance standards being triggered: • PS6: Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources – More information is required on bird flight patterns and proximity of Important Bird Areas in all three wind farms to be able to clearly define the risk of collision of the affected species, • PS7: Indigenous Peoples (IP) For Chubut North, no IPs were found to live on the lands being used by the project. For Villalonga, it is however unclear if there are any IPs that have ties to or lost ties to the land affected by the projects as defined by IFC Performance Standards, or if IP communities live in the area of influence of the Project. PS5: Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement was found not to be triggered in both Chubut North and Villalonga. PS8: Cultural Heritage was found not to be triggered – An archaeology and palaeontology study has been contracted for the Project. According to the Sponsor, the results found that there is very low risk of archaeological finds in the Project area.