Acciona Energia has announced plans to build two new photovoltaic plants and two wind farms in Chile with a total capacity of around 400 MW.
The Spanish firm said that it will invest around $600 million in the projects and plans to start construction of the 62 MWp Almeyda solar farm in early 2019.
Later in 2019, Acciona will start construction of the 64 MWp Usya solar farm, which is due to start operating in mid-2020.
Both solar farms will supply energy to the National Mining Company of Chile (ENAMI) under a recently-signed power purchase agreement. The Almeyda solar farm will cover 150 hectares in the locality of Diego de Almagro in the region of Atacama, while Usya will cover 105 hectares in Calama in the region of Antofagasta.
Acciona says that it has already started the construction of the 183 MW San Gabriel wind farm in La Araucania region. The 87 MW Tolpan wind farm will be located in the same area, it added.
The San Gabriel wind farm is due to start operating in late 2019 or early 2020.
“We are undertaking major investments over this three-year period, which will considerably strengthen our presence in the thriving renewable energy sector in Chile”, said Acciona Energía CEO, South America José Ignacio Escobar.
Acciona currently has 291 MW of renewables in service in Chile: 246 MWp in the El Romero Solar photovoltaic plant in the region of Atacama and 45 MW in the Punta Palmeras wind farm in the region of Coquimbo. With the facilities under construction and those planned for the 2018-2020 period, the company will reach a capacity of 700 MW in Chile.
