Repsol Ibereólica Renovables Chile has announced that its second wind project in Atacama, Chile, has started producing power.
The 165.3MW project consists of 29 Nordex N163 wind turbines of 5.7MW each and will supply enough power annually to meet the needs of 150,000 homes.
The Atacama wind farm follows the development of the 192.5MW Cabo Leones III wind farm. Both wind farms form part of the Chilean project portfolio of Repsol Ibereólica Renovables, the joint venture between Repsol and the Ibereólica Renovables Group.
Have you read?
Erosion shields installed on Riffgat offshore turbines
Only two onshore wind turbines went operational in England in 2022
Both wind farms are located in Atacama in the Chilean region of the same name in the province of Huasco.
Together, the partners have more than 1,200MW of assets in operation, construction or development, with the possibility of exceeding 2,600MW in 2030.
Before the construction, both companies signed a 14-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to maximise returns on the generation asset.
João Paulo Costeira, Repsol’s general manager of Low Carbon Generation, said: “This milestone will allow us to meet our growth and diversification goals in Chile, a country that offers us great potential for asset development as a further step towards achieving our goal of 6GW in operation by 2025.”
Repsol has a current portfolio of installed renewable generation projects amounting to more than 1,800MW, including 1,600MW of installed renewable capacity in Spain, 62.5MW in the United States and 3MW from the WindFloat Atlantic floating wind farm in Portugal.
With the addition of this Atacama wind farm, Spanish renewables group Ibereólica Renovables has reached 1GW of installed capacity across Spain and Chile.
According to the World Economic Forum, despite its historical ties to fossil fuels and copper mining, Chile in recent years has accelerated its energy transition through political support, private-public partnerships and innovative green technologies.
Chile plans to convert 70% of its total energy consumption to renewables by 2030 and has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050.
