Total investment for the construction of the new wind farm amounts to, approximately, 190 million US dollars.
Rome, August 14th, 2013 Enel Green Power (EGP) has started construction works at its biggest wind farm in Chile, Taltal.
The plant is named after the district where the project is located, in the region of Antofagasta, 1,550 km north of Santiago. The plant will comprise 33 wind turbines of 3 MW each, for a total installed capacity of 99 MW.
The total investment for the construction of the new wind farm amounts to, approximately, 190 million US dollars.
Once in operation, Taltal will be able to generate up to over 300 GWh a year, hence avoiding the atmospheric emission of more than 200,000 tons of CO2 each year. Energy production from Taltal will meet the consumption needs of some 170,000 Chilean households.
The project is supported by a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The energy generated by the new wind farm will be delivered to the Chilean central region transmission network (SIC), through the Paposo substation, some 50 km away from the plant.
The public land concession for the development of the wind farm was awarded to Enel Green Power in 2012 as a result of the first Chilean public tender that was jointly organized by the Ministry of National Assets and the Ministry of Energy. Aim of the tender was to endorse diversification in the Chilean energy mix, promoting the development of renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions and energy dependency from abroad, as well as enhancing power supply to support country development.
Taltal is the third wind farm we are building in Chile and certainly not the last stated Fulvio Conti, CEO of Enel. We are rapidly growing in this country and in several other Latin American countries across all segments of the energy sector. Latin America is a continent which significantly contributes to Group results, thanks to its strong economic growth and related increase in energy consumption. As per renewables, through Enel Green Power, and all the technologies and the know-how our Group manages, we are constantly growing at global level, thus supporting governments efforts in generation mix diversification.
In Chile, Enel Green Power operates two hydro plants for a total installed capacity of 92 MW, and one 90 MW wind farm, Talinay. Besides Taltal, the company is also building its 90 MW Valle de los Vientos wind project, which is also located in the Antofagasta region.
Enel Green Power is the Enel Group company fully dedicated to the development and management of renewable energy sources at the international level, with operations in Europe and the Americas. The company generated more than 25 billion kWh in 2012 from water, sun, wind and the Earths heat - enough to meet the energy needs of approximately 10 million households and avoid the emission of over 18 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Enel Green Power is a world leader in the sector thanks to its well-balanced generation mix, providing generation volumes well over the sector average. As of today, the Company has an installed capacity of 8,700 MW from a mix of sources including wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass. Currently, the company has around 740 operational plants in 16 countries in Europe and the Americas.
In Latin America, Enel Green Power runs renewable energy plants in Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Chile and Brazil for a total installed capacity of 990 MW as of today. In the wind sector, the company is currently building wind farms in Brazil for a total capacity of around 283 MW and has 24 MW installed wind capacity in Costa Rica, 144 MW in Mexico and 90 MW installed in Chile, where the company is also constructing the 90 MW Valle de los Vientos and the 99 MW Taltal wind farms. With its century-long experience in the field of geothermal energy, Enel Green Power is developing new opportunities in this sector. In Chile, in particular, the company is exploring several concessions for a potential capacity exceeding 100 MW.
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