ACCIONA Energía wins new renewable energy award in Chile

ACCIONA Energía Chile has been awarded 506 GWh/year of electricity output for twenty years in the energy tender called by the Chilean Administration. The tender was open to both renewable and conventional technologies. ACCIONA will build a 183 MW wind farm to meet the output won at auction.

The new wind farm, called San Gabriel, will be located 5 km east of the town of Renaico in the region of La Araucanía, Chile. Its renewable electricity will be sufficient to supply 250,000 homes in Chile while avoiding the emission of 486,000 metric tons of CO2 a year from coal-fired power stations.

To deliver the new output, ACCIONA will sign contracts with the electric power distribution companies that operate in the Central Interconnected System (SIC) and the Northern Power Grid (SING) to supply customers subject to price regulation. The two systems account for more than 90% of electricity production in Chile.

The electricity output awarded to ACCIONA came under block 3 of the National Electricity Commission’s tender. It will require round-the-clock generation between January 1^st 2022 and December 31^st 2041.

The energy auction, called by the National Energy Commission in May 2015, attracted bids from 84 national and international companies, with 82% corresponding to renewables and the remaining 18% to conventional technologies. The total energy offered for tender was 12,430 GWh/year, equivalent to around 30% of the consumption of regulated market customers from 2021.

José Ignacio Escobar, General Manager of ACCIONA Energia Chile, said:

“The result of the tender once again highlights the fact that our renewables-based solutions are very competitive, even against conventional technologies,” says. “It reaffirms ACCIONA’s commitment to participate in Chile’s development based on sustainable economic, social and environmental parameters.”