| First South American Industrial Solar Plant Posted on 15/11/2010 The Spanish company, Solarpack, and the
Chilean state corporation, Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile
(Codelco), have announced that they will collaborate on a solar
photovoltaic project. The two companies will construct and operate a
1-MW solar farm, which will supply electricity to the Chuquicamata mine
in northern Chile.
In a statement, Solarpack, which develops solar energy projects and
provides related services, has declared that the plant will be the
first photovoltaic installation in the world to be constructed without
any subsidies. The company considers this to be "a milestone in the
evolution of solar photovoltaic energy and an example of the significant
reduction in the costs thereof". Reportedly, Codelco, the largest
copper producer in the world, will purchase the electricity generated
by the solar plant "at a stable long-term price which will be
competitive with the market price of electricity in the electrical
system of northern Chile (SING)”. This is what is described as ‘grid
parity’. The plant, consisting of 4,080 silicon-based PV modules
on single-axis trackers, will occupy an area of 6.25 hectares and will
avoid the emission of 1,680 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum. It is
expected that the facility will be operational within a year. Northern
Chile is one of the regions with the highest solar radiation on the
planet, "almost 2,500 kWh/square-metre/year,” says Solarpack. The
company also claims that the new plant "will be the world's most
productive to date, with a capacity factor of 31%".
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