Clean energy companies set to invest $7bn in Chile

Clean energy developers are set to invest around US$7 billion in renewable energy projects in Chile after Energy Minister Pacheco announced a suite of financial incentives on Thursday.

Minister Maximo Pacheco addressed reporters in the capital Santiago last week and said that the government has awarded 70 concessions for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects and six for wind farms.

Chile currently has just over 1,700 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity, or 8.9 per cent of the total installed, according to a report this month from the Energy Ministry’s Renewable Energy Center.

Wind accounts for 40 per cent of the total, and biomass is second with 26 per cent.

Chile’s environmental regulator has approved 6,100MW of solar projects, and 487MW of solar farms are under construction in Chile.

The country has already expanded its clean energy capacity by an impressive 600 megawatts in 2014.

Chile was ranked at 13 in the June 2014 “Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index” (RECAI), which ranks over 400 countries based on their attractiveness for investment in renewable energy projects and investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector.

In the RECAI, Chile ranks second in CSP solar projects and twelfth in PV solar projects.

After Brazil, Chile is the highest-ranked Latin American country which is attributed to the consistent level of approved projects and the proposed carbon tax of US$5 per tonne of CO2 on power plants over 50MW.