Greenwood Energy of Libra Group has joined hands with Pacific Solar to develop an 80-megawatt solar project in Chile.
The construction of the plant in Antofagasta region is expected to begin this year and may be online as early as 2016.
Greenwood will own and operate the projects.
The Inti project is the second largest merchant solar power plant in Chile. The generated power will be sold on the Chilean spot market.
The high horizontal solar radiation in the Atacama Desert make solar technologies more productive at lower costs per unit of electricity generated.
Chile is considered to be the first market in which solar can compete in the spot market, with no power purchase agreements.
Besides, Chile is Latin America’s biggest solar market. The country has abundant supply of sunlight, open space, high electricity prices and rising demand that make merchant solar attractive.
In November 2014, Etrion and SunPower completed Project Salvador in Northern Chile, five months ahead of schedule.
At 70 MW this was the largest solar plant in the world which sells the electricity on the spot market.
Chile has grown into the region’s leading solar market in Latin America.
Sabeena Wahid