Michelle Bachelet, President of the Republic of Chile; Isabel Allende, President of the Chilean Senate, and Máximo Pacheco, Minister of Energy attended the ceremonial installation of the first solar panel for the 141 Megawatt (MW) Luz del Norte Solar Power Plant on October 17, 2014. The project, which will use 1.7 million of Arizona-based First Solar’s photovoltaic thin film modules, is expected to be complete by December 2015, and will become the largest solar plant in Latin America. In June, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) approved a loan guarantee of $230 million to support construction. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, also provided financing. A key component of the project is local workforce training.
“Projects, such as this show that Chile is progressing towards being a clean energy producing country. This year alone, we are incorporating more than 1000 MW of new energy to our system through different non-conventional renewable energies. This is an important step towards our 2025 target of having 20 percent of our energy coming from non-conventional renewable energies,” said Bachelet, speaking to a group gathered at the construction site. “Chile is in a position to be a leader in renewable energy in the Southern Cone, and in the Atacama region we are doing so. We must continue to assume leadership, and we must work as a team to assure the effort goes forward to attract more business and leverage greater economic growth.”
“Projects, such as this show that Chile is progressing towards being a clean energy producing country. This year alone, we are incorporating more than 1000 MW of new energy to our system through different non-conventional renewable energies. This is an important step towards our 2025 target of having 20 percent of our energy coming from non-conventional renewable energies,” said Bachelet, speaking to a group gathered at the construction site. “Chile is in a position to be a leader in renewable energy in the Southern Cone, and in the Atacama region we are doing so. We must continue to assume leadership, and we must work as a team to assure the effort goes forward to attract more business and leverage greater economic growth.”
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