The 1MW Calama 3 PV plant is already in operation in the desert region, considered one of the world’s best for solar power. The Solarpack project, which supplies state copper-mining company Codelco, was inaugurated last month — but is only the start.
Although peak demand in the north is expected to double by 2020 to 4.2GW, the SING, as the local grid is known, will be able to absorb only a small percentage of the dozens of projects that are seeking power-purchase agreements with mining companies eager for clean energy that is not subject to fossil-fuel price volatility.
Among
