Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) has extended a loan of US$65mn to the Cerro del Aguilia hydroelectric plant in Peru.

The finance has been guaranteed by the Italian export credit agency, Sace, who are supporting the project because of the involvement of the Italian construction monolith Astaldi. The company entered into a joint venture with Peruvian company Graña Y Montero to undertake the project’s construction.

The Cerro del Aguilia plant will consist of a 510MW underground powerhouse, a 380,000 cubic-metre concrete dam, 9km of tunnels and 60km of access roads.

Peru has seen some serious inward investment to its hydroelectric sector in recent weeks. In July, GTR reported that the Chaglia plant had managed to raise US$774mn in debt as part of an overall financing project of US$1.2bn. SMBC were also involved in this transaction.