205 MW El Parque Solar Cordillera Project In Chile Moving Forward

The 205 MW El Parque Solar Cordillera solar PV power plant being developed in Chile is moving ahead, based on documents recently filed with the country’s environmental assessment service.

According to the documents, the project — to be constructed over a 3 year period in the mountainous Lo Barnechea municipality of the Santiago Metropolitan region — will require roughly $410 million in capital for completion. The developer is Eco Santiago.

Eco Santiago’s current plan is for around 70 MW of generation capacity to be installed during every one of the development years.

The project will reportedly be situated on a 614 hectare site in the area, and will feature 661,290 solar panels — generating electricity that is then sent to the country’s national grid network. As part of the development, a substation will reportedly need to be built for transmission of excess electricity.

Once approved, the project is expected to begin the construction phase sometime in September. The company is apparently aiming for the project to remain in service for at least 25 years — the rated lifespan of the PV panels being used — with an extension after this period being likely, but dependent upon the state of the panels at the time.

The project will represent just the latest in the continuing large-scale solar buildout in the country. Considering the great solar energy potential in the country, this is of course unsurprising — especially when you consider the high cost of conventional energy generation in the country (via imported fossil fuels), investor interest in the country, and the emerging global trends with regard to fossil fuel production and solar energy technology. Solar power is increasingly more cost-competitive than fossil fuels, and Chile is one of the first countries where this has been so.