Another 2 GW of solar under review in Chile

From pv magazine Latam

Chile‘s Environmental Impact Assessment Service (SEIA) has recently agreed to review several large scale solar projects.

Since mid-April, the La Pampina Solar Plant project has planned to inject 160 MW of nominal power at the connection point to the National Electric System and to have a total installed power of 200 MW. The $140 million project is expected to be located in the commune of María Elena in the province of Tocopilla, in the Antofagasta region.

Spanish renewable energy company Grenergy filed an application for the 220 MW Gabriela Photovoltaic Park on April 20, consisting of 487,872 photovoltaic panels of 540 W each which together will have a nominal generation power of 220 MW that will be injected into the National Electricity System (SEN).

Andes Green Energy submitted the Ghungnam Kcs Electric Power Generation project on April 21, planning the construction of a 709 MW solar photovoltaic plant and another 300 MW concentrating solar power plant (CCSP), for a total nominal power of 1,009 MW. The plant should require an investment of $2.78 billion.

Netherlands-based IPP Sonnedix has submitted the Pelequén Solar Park, which includes storage and has a required investment of $140 million. It consists of the construction and subsequent operation of a photovoltaic plant of 175 MWp of installed power and its respective transmission line for the generation of electric power and its subsequent injection into the National Electric System (SEN), at the Malloa Nueva substation. The main works of the project are the photovoltaic plant, a lifting substation, an energy storage system using batteries (BESS) and a 6.2km-long high voltage electric transmission line. The installed power of 175 MWp will be reached using 291,992 bifacial photovoltaic modules whose unit power is 600 Wp.

AME, a Chilean energy company, is developing the Sol del Loa Solar Plant Optimization Project, a modification of a project that was previously approved. It considers the construction and operation, in two stages, of a solar electric power generation plant with a total nominal power of 640 MW. The construction and operation of the project will be carried out in two stages, called ‘sub-phases’. Sub-phase I will have a capacity of 448 MWac and sub-phase II, which will begin to be built immediately after the start of operation of sub-phase I, will have a capacity of 192 MWac. The commissioning of the whole plant is expected to be four years after the start of the construction phase. The solar plant and most of the transmission line will be located in the María Elena district of the Antofagasta region). However, 2.7km of transmission line is projected within the Pozo Almonte district of the Tarapacá region. The estimated investment is $480 million dollars.