Tierra Atacama Hotel & Spa, winner of the prestigious World Travel Award “Chile’s Leading Spa Resort 2016”, is a luxury retreat surrounded by the breathtaking landscape of the Atacama Desert. Owned by Tierra Hotels, the Tierra Atacama Hotel & Spa offers a unique fusion of relaxation and adventure, making it a beloved destination for travel fans from all over the world.
Tierra Hotels’ philosophy of advocating its natural environment is mirrored in its quest for sustainability and it was named the “Most Sustainable Tourism Company in Chile” for its use of solar energy and organic architecture. In 2013 Kraftwerk Renewable Power Solutions designed, engineered and constructed Tierra Hotels’ first PV plant – an off-grid PV-diesel hybrid system with 23.04 kWp that has since been generating up to 50% of Tierra Atacama Hotel & Spa’s daytime electricity needs.
Kraftwerk will expand the existing PV plant by an additional 133 kWp and implement a 330 kWh high-efficient Li-Ion battery storage and energy management solution. Kraftwerk’s Managing Director, Karsten Schulte, explains, “By expanding the PV plant and incorporating storage, the diesel gensets will be switched off completely for 8 to 9 hours per day plus a few hours each night. The hotel will benefit from 60 to 65% annual diesel savings, not to mention a significant increase in the existing genset’s lifetime.”
The expansion of the Tierra Atacama Hotel & Spa’s PV plant was selected as a showcase project by the German Energy Agency (dena). The project is now part of the worldwide Renewable Energy Solutions (RES) Programme 2015/17, which is coordinated by dena and co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) within the German Energy Solutions Initiative.
“We are glad to be a part of this lighthouse project,” said Steffen Heinrich, Managing Director of the battery manufacturer Qinous, “Many hotels are in very remote locations with no grid access and this project will be an excellent example of how sustainable and environmentally friendly energy generation can be. Our battery system enables to switch the diesel gensets off. It also meets the typical requirements in such applications for low noise and simple serviceability.”
Miguel Purcell, CEO of Tierra Hotels, is pleased, “One of our core values in Tierra Hotels is the protection of our environment, that’s why we want to provide the best experience and service with minimal disruption. We’ve saved a significant amount of diesel over the past couple of years and have substantially decreased our carbon footprint. The experience we’ve had with running and maintaining the PV plant has encouraged us to take yet another step forward.”
