Chile to tender more state land for renewables

The Chilean government is to make almost 90km2 of state land available through concessions for the development of renewable energy, targeting wind and solar projects.

by Tom Azzopardi 28 January 2019

Chile has a little over 1.7GW of installed wind capacity (pic: Goldwind)

The concessions will be tendered in a series of auctions this year.

Offers in the first tender, covering 43.82km2 located in northern Chile, are due on 19 June to the Ministry of National Assets’ regional office in the northern city of Antofagasta.

"This area presents the best conditions to develop renewable energy projects due to the high levels of sunlight and the possibilities for wind energy," said national assets minister, Felipe Ward.

The rest of the lands are concentrated in the south of the country. The government expects to earn up to $3 million annually through renting the concessions.

In 2017, power company Colbun announced plans to build the largest wind farm in Latin America in northern Chile after winning a 30-year concession to rent around 80km2 of government land.

The Horizonte project could cost $1 billion to build, have an installed capacity of over 600MW and is due to be completed by 2024.