Renewable Energy Will Be Good For Chile’s Economy
Last Updated on Sunday, 20 December 2009 19:56 Written by Santiago Times - 09.12.09 Wednesday, 09 December 2009 00:00
From Santiago TimesIrish energy firm promise that turbines will create jobs and prosperity
(Ed. Note: Last month Chilean daily La Tercera reported that the Irish- owned Mainstream Renewable Power company plans to invest US$1.6 billion developing wind farms throughout the country.
(In an interview with the Santiago Times, the company’s Chile representative, Jose Ignacio Escobar, discusses the nation’s renewable energy future what this investment could mean for Chile.)
“We have big plans for Chile in the long term” company representative Jose Ignacio Escobar told The Santiago Times. “Our plans will create local jobs, local development, local income on taxes and benefits all across the country. By diversifying the sources of energy we also help to diversify our country; geographically, politically and economically.”
With Chile currently importing almost 80 percent of its primary fuel needs, wind and solar power are increasingly promoted as a solution to Chile's ongoing energy demands. By increasing domestic energy production, the amount spent on acquiring energy abroad is lowered and more money remains in Chile.
Chile is currently producing much of its energy with diesel and coal powered generators that emit CO2 and contribute to climate change. Escobar says he is confident that Mainstream can help Chile produce more energy while at the same time reducing CO2 emissions. “Our country is very dependent on imported fuels,” he says. “How can we continue to grow economically when we are under pressure to grow cleaner? We think the current solution is wind.”
Mainstream is moving forward with expansion plans and has identified ten sites suitable for new wind farms. These projects could generate up to 600 MW of electricity, doubling Chile’s existing renewable energy capacity.
In Nov. 2008 the firm signed a US$1 billion deal with local company Andes Energy to run wind energy plants throughout Chile. These projects include the Laguna Verde site in Valparaiso (Region V), which will produce 35 MW – enough to power 19,000 homes.
Criticisms of wind energy focus upon the low yield produced by individual turbines, the unsightliness of wind farms, and doubts about whether or not wind can supply enough energy to meet the current government mandate that five percent of the nation’s energy come from renewable sources by 2014.
Escobar insists that wind power can achieve twice the five percent target within the next few years. “With the current power grid, and a minor investment in infrastructure, wind power can easily achieve 10 percent (of Chile’s national energy needs) in the short term,” he said.
Escobar also believes that the wide spread availability of wind and the relative ease with which it can be harnessed makes it an attractive alternative to controversial projects such as the Hidroaysen dam scheme in Chile's south.
The Hidroaysen project includes the construction of five massive hydroelectric dams along Region XI’s two largest rivers, with a 2,000 km power line bringing the electricity to the Chile's populated central valley. Criticism of the scheme centers on the destruction of pristine Patagonian forests, as well as the vulnerability of a power line in an earthquake prone country like Chile.
Though currently focused upon wind energy, Mainstream also has ambitions to put Chile's tremendous solar power to good use in the future.
Solar energy will be vital in Chile's north, Escobar said, because the region lacks water. Water resources in the country's northern regions are becoming depleted due to intensive consumption from industrial mining plants. Critics worry that water resources will soon be insufficient to provide for the local population needs.
“Solar power - not only in Chile, but in many places - is the most available source of energy,” he said. “Since this energy doesn't use water intensively, it can be a big solution for the Chile’s north.”
Solar resources can also provide an alternative to nuclear energy for Chile, said Escobar. The debate over the use of nuclear energy has divided many in the country and has become an increasingly important issue politically.
Millions of dollars have been spent on studies into the feasibility of nuclear energy production in Chile, and at least two of the presidential candidates have refused to rule out its implementation in the future (ST. June 16).
Though supporters of nuclear energy recognize the environmental concerns over waste disposal and radiation poisoning, it currently appears to provide one of the cheapest option for large scale energy generation.
But Mainstream argues that, in the long run, solar power is a much more attractive proposition for Chile, not only environmentally speaking, but economically as well.
“Our bet is that solar energy is going to be so much cheaper in the next 10, 15 years. It will simply be an economical decision in favor of solar energy rather than nuclear energy,” Escobar said. “In the long run, the economics of a nuclear plant will not be able to compete with renewable projects.”