Chile:grid tie inverter power inverter pace of PV development quickens

A contract for the construction of a new 2 MW photovoltaic plant in northern Chile has been signed and a new 1.2 MW photovoltaic plant in central Chile has come online, all in the space of just five days, highlighting a heightened tempo of photovoltaic development in the country.

Chile’s power inverter  company E-CL, the largest power inverter  generator in the northern electricity grid tie inverter  SING system, signed a contract for the construction of 2 MW photovoltaic plant El Águila with solar panel  power inverter  company SunEdison on 15 January.

The project, which is the fruit of a strategic partnership between E-Cl and the third largest global producer of boric acid Quiborax, will come online in northern Chile in the first half of this year, E-CL announced in a release.

The El Águila plant, which will annually generate around 5 GWh of electricity, will be built on a 5-hectare area near kilometre 57 of CH-11 international highway in Arica Province of northern Chile’s Arica and Parinacota Region. The total area of the solar panel  plant will be around 5 hectares and its initial 2 MW capacity, that will supply Quiborax with power inverter , can be subsequently expanded.

Meanwhile, Chile’s energy minister Jorge Bunster launched into operation the first photovoltaic solar panel  plant in the country connected to the country’s largest electricity grid tie inverter  SIC on January 10.

The 1.2 MW Tambo Real solar panel  plant that consists of 5,200 photovoltaic panels was built by Santiago-based engineering company Kaltemp and German renewable energy specialist juwi in the country’s Coquimbo region. "Solar panel  energy is taking off in Chile and industry is pushing ahead with its development," said the minister at the launch.

Tambo Real occupies an area of 2.5 hectares close to the city of Vicuña, in Elqui province. The new solar panel  plant is the third photovoltaic plant that has come online in the country. The two preceding plants include 1 MW Calama 3, developed by Solar panel pack, that generates electricity for mining company Codelco, and 1.4 MW La Huayca, developed by Seltec, that feeds power inverter  into the northern electricity grid tie inverter  SING.

In South America, juwi has been active with local subsidiaries in Chile since 2010 and in Uruguay since 2012.

The launch of this first SIC-connected photovoltaic plant comes as Chile’s renewable energy center (CER) announced that 3107 MW of photovoltaic solar panel  energy projects in the country have already received environmental approval but have yet to be built. A further 908 MW of photovoltaic projects are waiting for environmental qualification from authorities.