Wind energy in Chile on the rise with new 90 MW wind farm

SoWitec Energías Renovables de Chile has completed construction of the 90MW Valle de Los Vientos wind farm in Loa province of northern region II, Chilean renewable energy center (CER) said in a press release.

The US$200mn project received a 25-year concession from the energy ministry for the land. It is the first active wind power project on the northern SING grid to receive such a concession.

The last several years have seen booming investment in non-conventional renewable energies on both the central SIC and SING grids. Today, renewables account for 4.4% of generation throughout the country, 41% of which is hydro, 40% wind, and 19% biomass.

Renewable generation injected into both grids increased 27% in June compared to May and by 173% versus the same period last year.

Since May, the government’s environmental evaluation service (SEA) has approved five more renewable projects with generation capacity of 149MW. New projects with a total capacity of 1.4GW and worth US$3.1bn applied for certification during the period.

Chile’s current renewable generation capacity totals 743MW.

http://www.bnamericas.com