MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile begins construction of 1 MW solar energy plant to supply copper mine

Electricity is essential for the copper industry

Last December 2, a ceremonial first stone was laid to mark the start of construction of a photovoltaic solar plant near the northern Chilean city of Calama.

The project, the first of its kind in South America, will have an installed capacity of 1 MW (equivalent to the electrical consumption of 5,000 homes) and will supply electricity to the installations of the large copper operation, Chuquicamata, owned and operated by Chile’s state copper corporation, Codelco.

Construction of the initiative, baptized Calama Solar 3, will be led by Codelco and undertaken by the Spanish firm Solar Pack.

It will be up and running within a year, and is being built and financed without the benefit of government subsidies. Occupying an area of 6.25 hectares, the project will contain 4,080 silicon-based solar modules supported by a precision tracking system whereby the panels maximize incoming solar radiation by following the trajectory of the sun’s movement from east to west.

The environmental impact of the new plant will be negligible since it produces no contaminating emissions of any type.

Once completed, the plant will mean an annual reduction in Chile’s CO2 emissions of 1,680 tons per year. Moreover, the plant needs practically no water in order to operate. Nor does the initiative have a negative visual impact on the surrounding area since the maximum height of the solar modules is only two meters.

Carlos Arenas, the national government’s energy representative (Seremi) for Chile’s northernmost regions, noted that the plant will benefit from “a very predictable electrical energy resource, even more so in northern Chile, where we find one of the areas with the greatest amount of solar radiation on the planet (nearly 2,500 kwh/m2/year). Thanks to that fact, the plant will produce 2.69 gigawatts per year of electricity. This plant will be the most productive in the world to date”.

Pointing to the potential for construction of similar plants in the future, Arenas added that these types of plants are modular, enabling an installed capacity ranging from 0.5 MW up to 60 MW. The expected useful life of the plant is 35 years.

Carolina Galleguillos, Executive Director of Chile’s Center for Renewable Energies (CER), noted that the start of construction of the plant was cause for celebration because “we are seeing how, little by little, renewable energy is becoming a reality in our country. This small project of 1 MW is, at the same time, a big step for the region since it is the first industrial solar plant and represents a clear example of the important role of mining in the development of renewable projects in northern Chile”.

By Rick Helm -  Santiago Times