First Solar grid connects first part of 141 MW Chilean PV plant

Around half of First Solar’s 141 MW Chilean solar PV project have been connected to the country’s central grid. Full commercial operation is slated for January.

Share

Set to be the largest solar PV plant in Latin America when complete, First Solar’s 141 MW Luz del Norte solar PV project has reached an important milestone, with around half of the project’s total capacity having been connected to Chile’s central grid yesterday.

Currently the generated electricity is being sold on the country’s open market, however the thin film PV company is looking to secure a permanent off-taker for the project, which is set to provide enough energy for 174,000 homes. It is located 58 km north of the city of Copiapó.

"This exciting milestone is proof of how utility-scale solar is a viable energy alternative for Chile right now," commented Cristian Sjogren, First Solar's Chile country manager. "Luz del Norte harnesses one of the region's richest resources, allowing Chile to reduce dependence on fossil-based fuels and meet renewable energy targets set by the national Energy Agenda."

Under Chile’s second energy supply auctions this year, held last Friday, First Solar, through project company SCB II SpA 2, won 20-year contracts to supply 88 GWh annually. The company’s bids came in at US$67-68 per MWh.

Overall, more than 2 GW of solar PV and CSP projects are under construction in Chile. GTM Research predicts that 1 GW will be installed in the country this year.

Popular content

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Share

Becky Beetz

Becky managed the online presence of pv magazine International since its inception in 2010. As Head of Content, she was responsible for content development across all platforms, including our global and regional platforms.

More articles from Becky Beetz

Related content

Elsewhere on pv magazine...

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.