SunEdison, which is building a solar plant near Santiago, Chile, in a $160-million project that is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of next year, believes Latin America is a very suitable location for renewable energy projects.
Alfredo Solar, general manager for Chile of SunEdison, said that "Latin America makes up an ideal scenario to extend our strategy" of building renewable energy plants, according to an email sent by the company to Latin Business Daily.
"Latin America has immeasurable renewable resources for energy development, be it at the level of solar, eolic or hydroelectric resources," Solar said. "These resources allow SunEdison to contemplate such projects in the region as it makes it possible to deliver clean energy at competitive prices."
The 110mw plant being built near Santiago, named Quilapilun, is being built in that area because it is closest to the location in Chile where most energy is consumed which is the country's capital, he said. By doing so, the need to transport energy from areas like the north of the country is reduced.
"This way we can deliver energy in the framework of contracts with distributor companies starting in 2016 and 2017, which will take energy directly to consumers such as homes and businesses," he said.
Once built, Quilapilun will be SunEdison´s biggest plant in Latin America.
The company already has in place a 100mw plant in the region of Atacama, in the north of Chile; however, Solar believes that the energy transmission in the country currently faces a "bottleneck" situation.
The Chilean government could help improve the operation of clean energy plants in Chile by improving the country´s energy transmission service, which is currently causing the bottleneck and the loss of clean energy that could be generated.
Legislation efforts in Chile such as the proposed Transmission Law would help alleviate the situation, if approved by Congress.
SunEdison was established in 1959 in St. Peters, Missouri. It has more than 3,300 employees worldwide and its operational headquarters office is in Belmont, California. It has other office locations across North America, Asia and Europe.
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