Mainstream delivers first power from three wind farms in Chile

Mainstream Renewable Power has begun supplying power from three wind farms in Chile with 426MW of installed capacity, in the first part of the company’s US$1.8 billion investments in the country.

They are the 84MW Alena (Andes Renovables Cóndor Complex) Alena (Andes Renovables Cóndor Complex) (84MW) OnshoreBio Bio, Chile, Central & South America Click to see full details wind farm in the southern region of Biobío and the 185MW Cerro Tigre (Andes Renovables Cóndor Complex) Cerro Tigre (Andes Renovables Cóndor Complex) (185MW) OnshoreAntofagasta, Chile, Central & South America Click to see full details wind farm and the 157MW Tchamma (Andes Renovables Cóndor Complex) Tchamma (Andes Renovables Cóndor Complex) (157MW) OnshoreAntofagasta, Chile, Central & South America Click to see full details wind farm, both located in the northern region of Antofagasta.

Together with the 145 MW Río Escondido photovoltaic solar park, they make up Mainstream’s Condor portfolio of projects, the first of 1.3 GW of renewable projects that the Irish company plans to begin into operation over the next few years.

The plants will now undergo tests prior to the start of commercial operations, which is expected to occur later this year. With 571MW of installed capacity, they are expected to generate enough electricity to supply more than 680,000 households, the company stated.

Driven by dozens of new wind and solar plants, Chile’s renewables capacity is expected to grow by around 6GW this year, doubling current capacity.

“Renewable energies are making a decisive advance in our country, thus helping to comply with the schedule of the decarbonisation plan,” said Chile’s undersecretary for energy Francisco Lopez during a visit to the Tchamma wind farm near the northern city of Calama.

“In particular, wind energy has the potential to exceed our current installed capacity by almost 50%, which is very positive for continuing to clean up our energy matrix,” he added.

Mainstream has already begun building three more wind farms with 427MW of capacity (109MW Ckani (Andes Renovables Huemul Complex) Ckani (Andes Renovables Huemul Complex) (109MW) OnshoreAntofagasta, Chile, Central & South America Click to see full details, 160MW Llanos del Viento (Andes Renovables Huemul Complex) Llanos del Viento (Andes Renovables Huemul Complex) (160MW) OnshoreAntofagasta, Chile, Central & South America Click to see full details and 156MW Puelche Sur (Andes Renovables Huemul Complex) Puelche Sur (Andes Renovables Huemul Complex) (156MW) OnshoreLos Lagos, Chile, Central & South America Click to see full details) which will enter operations during 2021 and 2022. Last month, the company raised US$182 million in debt to build a seventh, the 148.5MW Caman project.