Fotowatio to build large-scale hybrid wind-solar facility in Chile

Spanish solar developer, Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), a unit of UAE-based Abdul Latif Jameel Energy, has secured 25% of the total power assigned in Chile's 2.200 GWh auction, which the Chilean government held in early November. Around 600 MW of renewable energy capacity was allocated.

The company has not revealed the planned investment for the project. It said, however, that the project will be developed between the north and central zone of Chile and that, once completed, it will generate enough energy to supply 224,000 homes. Fotowatio added that this represents its first hybrid solar-wind project, and that it will be the first of series.

Roberto de Diego Arozamena, executive director of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy, commented, “Today's announcement is based on the portfolio of environmental and renewable energy services of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy. As I said at the World Future Energy Summit last year, our strategy is to focus on renewable energies such as solar, wind, energy conversion from waste, along with integrated environmental services. This hybrid wind solar energy project combines photovoltaic and wind energy technologies, which are able to provide 24-hour clean energy for homes in Chile.”

According to Andrea Fontana, managing director of the Wind Energy division of FRV, “Solar and wind technologies have many similarities and a high degree of maturity, which is allowing us to lead the transition to clean energy throughout the world. At FRV, we understand wind power as the natural progression of our consolidated experience in the solar energy sector, and we will continue to bet on it.”

The project is part of the expansion plan by FRV in Latin America. The new Chilean project joins those developed in Uruguay, where FRV developed the 64 MW solar park La Jacinta, and Mexico, where it has been awarded 342 MW of DC PV capacity.

Regarding this new project, Manuel Pavón, managing director of FRV for Latin America, indicated that “the award of the auction’s contract represents great news for the plans of expansion of FRV in a market as attractive as Chile, for its economic-political stability and the proven experience of the administration in initiatives of this magnitude.”

In Chile's November auction, the final average price was $32.5 MWh, while the lowest selected bid reached $21.48/MWh. Projects that were selected in the auction will start delivering power on January 1, 2024, with power to be supplied until December 31, 2043. It will be sold to customers of the Central and Northern Large Interconnected Systems (SIC and SING).