ATOME’s $665M Villeta green fertilizer project at risk after Paraguay revokes power decree

Atome’s flagship Villeta green fertilizer project in Paraguay faces financing uncertainty after the government abruptly revoked a presidential decree that underpinned the project’s fixed-tariff power agreement.

The UK-listed developer said a decree issued on January 16, 2026, which set electricity tariffs for a fixed-rate power purchase agreement with state utility ANDE, was canceled without notice and replaced. The new decree tasks ANDE with setting fresh investment conditions and withdraws the previously mandated tariffs, leaving the agreed power deal unsigned.

The power purchase agreement was a condition precedent for the first disbursement under the project’s financing. Atome said it is urgently engaging with ANDE, the Paraguayan government, and lenders, including the International Finance Corporation, IDB Invest, and the European Investment Bank, and warned there is no certainty it can secure revised terms acceptable to financiers.

The setback follows the project’s $665M final investment decision earlier this year. The 260,000 tonnes-per-year plant would produce low-carbon calcium ammonium nitrate using Paraguayan hydropower, with all output committed to Yara under a decade-long offtake deal.

Chair Peter Levine said the company had received assurances at the highest level that the agreed power deal would be executed before the end of June. Atome said it would update shareholders in due course.

Source: TipRanks