Acciona Energia says it has won a tender for 506 GWh/year of electricity output in Chile for 20 years – in what the Chilean administration is calling the biggest energy tender in the country – and announced plans to build a 183 MW wind farm to meet that output.
According to the company, the energy auction, called by the National Energy Commission in May 2015, attracted bids from 84 national and international companies, with 82% corresponding to renewables and the remaining 18% to conventional technologies.
“The result of the tender once again highlights the fact that our renewables-based solutions are very competitive, even against conventional technologies,” says José Ignacio Escobar, general manager of Acciona Energia Chile. “It reaffirms Acciona’s commitment to participate in Chile’s development based on sustainable economic, social and environmental parameters.”
The new wind farm, called San Gabriel, will be located 5 kilometers east of the town of Renaico in the region of La Araucanía and will be able to supply 250,000 homes in Chile with renewable power, avoiding the emission of 486,000 metric tons of CO2 a year from coal-fired power stations.
To deliver the new output, Acciona will sign contracts with the electric power distribution companies that operate in the Central Interconnected System and the Northern Power Grid to supply customers subject to price regulation. The two systems account for more than 90% of electricity production in Chile, the company adds.
According to Acciona, the awarded electricity output came under block 3 of the National Electricity Commission’s tender, and it will require round-the-clock generation between Jan. 1, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2041.
