Chilean environmental authorities receive proposal for 1 GW CSP-PV project

The Korean renewable energy company Andes Green Energy has requested environmental approval to Chile’s environmental authorithy Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (SEIA) for a 1,007 MW hybrid CSP-PV project to be developed in the northern region of Tarapacá.

According to a document published by SEIA, the huge solar power plant would sell electricity to the country’s northern grid system Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande (SING) or to an unidentified private customer.

The project, named Bundang-Gu Pozo Almonte, would consist of a 707 MW PV section and a 300 MW CSP unit and would require a total investment of $4.5 billion. The PV facility would be built with approximately 2,288,000 solar modules with a power output of 310 W.

This is not the first giant solar project that Andes Energy has submitted for approval to the SEIA. In January 2016, the company proposed a 1.2 GW PV project for the region of Antofagasta. The Fotoelectricidad Loa project is also expected to deliver power to the SING and its required investment would also be of $4.5 billion. This plant is planned to be located in the municipality of Calama, in Chile’s northern region of Antofagasta, which as well as the region of Tarapacá is among the world’s region with the highest solar radiation.

Chile is currently Latin America’s largest PV market with over 1.3 GW of installed solar power. Most of this capacity comes from large-scale PV plants located in the Tarapacá and Antofagasta regions.