Chile environment agency adds 392MW to national PV pipeline

September 15, 2014
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email

Two more large-scale PV plants, with a combined generation capacity of 392MW, have been approved for Chile by the country’s environmental authority.

Earlier this month the Chilean environmental assessment agency SEA presented two environmental impact statements, one for a 112MW solar farm and another of 280MW, indicating that both projects had been approved.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

These two latest projects come off the back of several recent approvals and announcements of large scale solar plants, including one last week that will total 698MW – divided across 11 sub-projects – when completed.

The newly announced 112MW project, Llanta Solar Project, will be built in Chile’s Atacama Desert region, in the municipality of Diego de Almagro. The Atacama to the north of Chile will need little introduction to regular readers of PV Tech, feted for its rich solar irradiance levels with numerous large projects already built or approved in the area. Local developer MSN Solar 5 submitted the plans to SEA, and according to the environment agency’s documents, Llanta Solar Project will require around US$235.2 million of investment.

The other project to be approved, Alfa Solar, will also be located in the north of Chile, this time in the municipality of Maria Elena, in Antofagasto. Alfa Solar’s developer will also be a local company, renewable energy developer Pleiades New Energy Ventures. The 280MW project will require US$560 million of investment, according to the SEA document.

After a long period of Chile’s potential for solar development being talked up, the start of activity had been slow at the beginning of this year. Just 106.2MW was installed by February 2014, according to the Chilean Centre for Renewable Energy. Yet according to research firm IHS, the country’s project pipeline stood at 9GW by the beginning of September, with one company alone, investment firm Rijn Capital, holding a pipeline of over 500MW. Big global players such as SunEdison and Yingli Green are also now developing projects in Chile.

Read Next

Premium
October 17, 2025
According to Ronak Maheshwari of CRC-IB, there has been a struggle for US renewable power projects to secure necessary equity .
October 17, 2025
Norwegian renewable energy firm Scatec has signed lease agreements for 64MW of solar PV and 10MWh of energy storage capacity in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
October 17, 2025
A group of over 20 US states are suing the Trump administration for the cancellation of the US$7 billion Solar For All Scheme.
October 16, 2025
Masdar and Turkey have entered the final stage of US$1 billion agreement to develop the 1.1GW plant in Bor, Niğde Province, central Turkey.
October 16, 2025
T1 Energy and Nextracker have agreed to use the latter’s steel module frames at the former’s new 5GW module manufacturing facility in Dallas.
October 16, 2025
US utility-scale solar additions grew by 56% in 2024, reaching 30GW from 2023’s 19GW and representing over 54% of all new electricity generation capacity added in the country last year.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK