WIND FARM COULD COMPLETELY POWER CHILE’S CHILOÉ
Ecopower Chile S.A.C. en los medios, publicado en www.Global-bionergy.net, 30 septiembre 2008.
An ambitious windmill project set for Chiloé could - by as early as 2010 - make the island the first place in Chile fully powered by renewable energy. And, if things go according to plan, Chiloé might even be able to export electricity to the mainland.
The project is slated for Mar Brava and Guapilacuy, rural areas located northwest of Ancud, Chiloé’s capital city. The wind farms would occupy some 1,400 hectares and together boast an installed generating capacity of roughly 140 MW - enough to power approximately 700,000 homes. Chiloé’s total current energy needs are estimated at 90 MW.
Chiloé is attached to Chile’s central grid, known as the SIC, via power lines that run over the Chacao Channel. Right now its electricity is derived from fossil fuel burning plants located mostly on the mainland.
The companies behind the project - Ecopower, a Chilean firm, and Spanish-owned Enhol-Chile - expect to spend approximately US$300 million. They say the project will employ up to 400 people. The companies have already studied the area’s wind potential, which they found to be excellent.
Enhol-Chile also has plans for a massive wind farm in Region IV. If approved by environmental authorities, the US$1 billion “Talinay” project would be Latin America’s largest wind farm, with an installed generating capacity of 500 MW.
According to Chile’s National Energy Commission, wind energy accounts for only 0.2 percent of the SIC’s current installed capacity. Approximately 53 percent of the grid’s energy comes from hydroelectric dams while 46 percent comes from thermoelectric (fossil fuel burning) plants.
A recent report by the Universidad de Chile and Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa María suggested that by as early as 2025, Chile could potentially meet 40 percent of its electricity needs with environmentally friendly energy sources (PT, Aug. 10). But to do so, the report concluded, the country will have to overcome significant political, economic and technical obstacles.