Chile’s National Assets Ministry announces the decade’s greatest boost to renewable energies
17,000 hectares of land have been awarded in the Taltal wind-farm reserve in the Antofagasta Region, where projects with a total 2,800 MW capacity will be implemented. This figure is equivalent to 11% of the current installed capacity.
As part of the COP26 framework and the commemoration of Energy Day, National Assets Minister Julio Isamit and Acting Energy Minister Francisco López announced that the decade’s largest land tender has been awarded for the development of renewable energies.
Minister Isamit stressed that “we are committed to providing Chile with clean and renewable energy that will allow future generations to grow up in a better country. This is especially relevant today, as different countries from all over the world are meeting to implements policies to combat the climate crisis.”
There are nine plots of land located within the Taltal Reserve, where the winning companies have jointly agreed to install hybrid projects – both wind and solar – with a total 2,779.6 MW capacity on more than 16,937 hectares. This figure corresponds to 11% of the National Electricity System’s installed capacity and will be made up of 1,746.6 MW of wind energy and 1,034 MW of solar energy. Additionally, the projects are planned to have 480 MW of storage capacity, which is good news for the system’s stability.
“This tender not only represents an important boost to renewable energy generation, but it is also historic in terms of available surface area, committed installed capacity, associated investment and committed tax revenue. All of this will make a substantial contribution to sustainable economic recovery,” Minister Isamit said.
Minister López stated that “this type of tender, carried out in conjunction with the National Assets Ministry and adapted to the most recent energy sector requirements, is what allows us to attract new investments, provide legal certainty and speed up the process of decarbonizing our energy matrix.”
The awarded projects have committed to an investment of over US$3.1 billion and tax revenues of UF 621,365 per year (Unidad de Fomento: an indicator whose value in pesos is adjusted daily in accordance with the Consumer Price Index). Considering the 40-year duration of the concessions, the treasury would receive more than UF 24,850,000 in total over the period. It should be noted that 65% of these resources will be transferred to the regional government to support local project development.
The winning companies are AES Gener, EDF in Chile, Enel Green Power, Statkraft and Grenergy Renovables Pacific Limitada (which was awarded three plots, equivalent to 3,599.88 hectares). Grupo Ibereólica was awarded the largest amount of land, at 3,759.89 hectares.
State Policy
Ten years ago, the National Assets Ministry introduced a policy to make public land available for the development of renewable energy, particularly wind and solar. To date, this policy has allowed 40% of Chile’s installed capacity of renewable energy operations to be located on fiscal territory.
Minister Isamit highlighted that, with this tender, “we have reached almost 250 concession and granted more than 105,000 hectares for renewable energy. Our commitment is to keep working on streamlining our processes and making more land available to support renewable energy, while always recognizing the dynamism of the industry and new trends like green hydrogen”.