Acciona Energia has signed a renewable energy-based power purchase agreement (PPA) with Aguas Chañar, a water cycle management company in the region of Atacama, Chile.
Under the terms of the PPA, supply will begin on 1 February 2018 for an undisclosed, long-term period, covering over 70% of Aguas Chañar’s power needs in the Atacama region across several installations.
All the energy supplied will come from Acciona’s renewable projects in Chile, where it currently operates a 246MW solar plant named El Romero Solar in the Atacama Desert and a 45MW wind farm named Punta Palmeras in the region of Coquimbo. It is also currently building a second wind farm with a capacity of 183MW in the Araucanía Region.
Aguas Chañar distributes potable water and treats wastewater in the Atacama region. It provides a service to more than 270,000 people in nine municipalities in Atacama and operates 13 potable water treatment plants and nine wastewater treatment facilities.
Aguas Chañar general manager Claudio Bitran, said: “This agreement ensures that our main processes function with clean energies and that we can take a step forward in caring for the environment by reducing our carbon footprint per litre produced. From now on, we can say that we are not only helping to produce water in the world’s most arid desert but doing it with clean energy, thanks to the endless sunshine in the Atacama region.”
Acciona has already signed PPAs with corporate clients in Chile such as with Google for power supplies to its local data centre in the country and with the distribution chain Falabella to supply around a hundred stores belonging to the group and its subsidiaries.
This month, Acciona started construction on a 404MW solar project in the Mexican state of Sonora, which has been developed in a 50:50 joint venture with Tuto Energy.