Report: 3.34GW of PV projects under construction in Chile

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  CORFO has revealed that just 3.9MW of the 2.05GW of solar projects approved during the month is currently under construction. Image: Chile's Ministry of Energy.

At least 2.05GW of Chilean solar projects received environmental authorisation during the month but just 3.9MW of this figure is currently under construction, according to a report by Chile's Center for Renewable Energy (CORFO) and cited by SolarServer,

Although Chile has seen an increase in solar activities in recent months, this lower figure may reflect the fact that many projects in the country have been struggling to obtain financing. 

CORFO also revealed that a total of 1.29GW of PV projects are currently under construction bringing the total capacity under development to 3.34GW. Of this figure, around 2.9GW of PV projects are expected to connect to the country’s northern grid (SING) while the remaining 400MW is planned for the central grid (SIC).

In comparison, the EPIA's report entitled Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics until 2016 forecasts that new installed PV capacity in Chile in 2012 will reach 25MW while the "policy-driven" figure is set at 100MW for the year. 

The projects for SING will produce electricity mostly to support mining operations in the region.  

Earlier this month, Chile’s Minister of Energy Jorge Bunster announced the creation of Explorador Solar, a public information platform which will be used to assess and evaluate the solar potential in the country.

Initiatives such as this have been developed in order to boost the country’s usage of renewable energy which is in line with the government’s National Energy Strategy.