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Chile makes the leap to green energy with the Copiapó Solar project

The Latin American country gives the green light to a new concentrated solar plant that will allow the storage of green energy for proper distribution

 

Chile, the country with the highest solar radiation in the world, is making giant strides towards achieving a more than ambitious renewable energy quota. The South American country seems determined to take firm steps that will allow it to reach the ambitious levels that, for the moment, are only on paper. In fact, it aims to reach 70% green energy by 2050.

This is evidenced by the new project recently announced by the Chilean government: Copiapó Solar. This facility will come into operation in 2019 and will add 260 MW of green energy to its energy production mix.

The new facility moves away from traditional photovoltaics and is betting on Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology. This allows for the management of the generated energy based on the gradual demand of the main consumers.

This new plant bases its operation on molten salt tanks. And it will provide a green technology storage capacity of around 13 continuous hours, allowing the electrical grid to be supplied with energy 24 hours a day.

The estimated investment is around $2 billion and it will generate nearly 1,200 jobs during its construction. Likewise, the price per Mw/h achieved is $63, with the particularity of its 24/7 generation.

Copiapó Solar: green energy

Source: SolarReserve

Copiapó Solar, the beginning of a roadmap for green energy Chilean

The new plant, promoted by the company SolarReserve, will be located in the heart of the Atacama Desert, one of the areas with the greatest solar exposure in the world, and will produce more than 1,800 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year, which will ensure the supply of green energy to around 560,000 Chilean homes. To achieve this, the plant will have two solar concentration towers surrounded by the characteristic solar fields formed by heliostat plates.

SolarReserve, a US company that is firmly committed to the commercialization of green energy, began its activities in 2008 and currently has up to three projects of this type under development on Chilean soil. Thus, it has an advanced state of development in the Tamarugal Solar projects, with 390 MW of CSP power and approved RCA, in the Tarapacá region, Likana Solar, based in the Antofagasta region and with 390 MW of CSP power and validated RCA, and Copiapó Solar.

With this project, which adds to the efforts made so far by Chile, the Latin American country will exceed the current 17% of green energy generation that it currently has, far exceeding the 20% set for 2025 and approaching, step by step, 70% by 2050.