On Monday, Solarpack announced that its Granja project, a 123-MW solar project located in Pozo Almonte, in the Tarapacá Region, in the middle of the Atacama Desert is now operational and has been sending power to the Chilean national electricity system as of March 2.
Solarpack developed, built and is operating the US$110M project.The project has long-term non-recourse financing granted by KfW Ipex-Bank for up to US $ 91 million.
Granja will sell its energy to Chilean power distributors through long-term sales contracts (PPAs). The project was awarded in 2016 with the most competitive energy price (29.1 US$/MWh) seen to that date in solar photovoltaic projects worldwide, thus contributing to the reduction of the electricity bill of Chilean households.
The project has been connected 10 months in advance of the date of commencement of the PPAs, which will begin on January 1, 2021.
Granja is one of the first solar PV projects of those awarded in the 2015/01 tender that has begun to inject energy into the national electricity system.
CEO of Solarpack, Pablo Burgos called the project “an important milestone” because it adds significantly to the number of megawatts of solar energy that company is sending to the Chilean grid.
Solarpack’s CEO, stressed that “Chile continues to be a fundamental market for Solarpack. Our commitment to the development of solar photovoltaic technology in Chile remains firm and is shown not only through significant investments in generation assets like Granja, but also through our intense project development activity as the engine of our future growth in this market,” he added.
