German wind turbine manufacturer Enercon has received a US$160.3mn loan from KfW IPEX-Bank and Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) for the construction of the Peralta wind farm in Uruguay.

The financing will be paid out in three tranches and is partly covered by the German export credit agency, Hermes.

Located in Cuchilla de Peralta, the new 117.5 MW wind farm aims to diversify Uruguay’s power generation sources and improve its carbon footprint. The country plans to generate as much as 38% of total domestic electricity from wind energy by 2017, from 13% in mid-2015.

“German and European wind technology is in demand internationally. This is a great opportunity both for manufacturers and the environment. As a bank, we do our part in helping ideas and projects take concrete shape,” says Markus Scheer, member of the management board of KfW IPEX-Bank.

Peralta will feature 50 E-92 wind turbines with a hub height of 108 metres, a rotor diameter of 92 metres and an output of 2350 kW per turbine. It has the capacity to supply around 150,000 typical Uruguayan households with green energy.

The generated power will be sold to the national energy supplier Administración Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Eléctricas (UTE) under a 20-year power purchase agreement.