ENEL starts production at PV plant in Chile
Enel Green Power Chile Ltda has completed and connected to the grid the Pampa Norte PV solar plant, which is located 32 kilometres southwest of Taltal in Chile's Antofagasta Region.
The new solar plant has an installed capacity of 79 MW and is able to generate more than 200 GWh per year "“ equivalent to the power consumption needs of around 100,000 Chilean households "“ while avoiding the annual emission of over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Enel invested around 150 million US dollars in the construction of the new plant, which is supported by a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).The energy generated by Pampa Norte, which comes from approximately 258,000 polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules installed over an area of around 290 hectares, will be delivered to Chile's Central Region Interconnected System (SIC "“ Sistema Interconectado Central).
Enel, through its subsidiary EGPC, currently operates a portfolio of plants in Chile that have a combined installed capacity of nearly 700 MW, of which 340 MW comes from wind power, 253 MW from PV solar and 92 MW from hydropower. In addition, EGPC currently has more than 500 MW of projects in execution, which when completed will bring the company's total installed capacity in Chile to about 1,200 MW. Among these projects is Cerro Pabellón, which will have a gross installed capacity of 48 MW and will be South America's first geothermal plant.
