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wiredInUSA - September 2016
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The national energy commission of Chile
has awarded contracts to Mainstream
Renewable Power to build and operate
seven utility-scale wind energy plants with
a total investment value of $1.65 billion. The
projects, awarded by twenty-year term
contracts, are located throughout Chile
and are scheduled to begin supplying
energy into the grid from January 2021.
All seven projects will be fully owned by
Mainstream.
Mainstream was among the leading
beneficiaries in what has been described
as the biggest, and most competitive,
electricity tender in the country’s history.
Eighty-four
companies
submitted
85,000GWh of bids for the 12,000GWh of
available power – nearly seven times more
power than could be awarded. This is the
first time Mainstream has participated
independently in a Chilean bid.
Since entering the Chilean market in
2009, Mainstream has developed a
comprehensive portfolio of wind and solar
energy projects in the country, extending
to over 2,000MW across more than 40
projects from Arica, in the north, to Puerto
Montt in the south. Through its joint venture
with Actis (Aela Energia), Mainstream has
an additional 300MW of wind projects,
won in the 2015 auction, due to begin
construction this year, and a 33MW wind
farm which has been in operation since
2014.
Canadian Solar Inc has signed a power
purchase agreement (PPA) with the
federal electricity commission (CFE) for a
63MW solar power plant in Aguascalientes,
Mexico. The project was awarded in
April 2016 under Mexico’s first long-term
electricity auction, and is expected to be
generating electricity by September 2018.
All the electricity generated will be sold
to the CFE under the PPA for a 15-year
period.
Dr Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of
Canadian Solar, commented: “We will
continue to leverage our global project
development and execution capability
[and] to expand our global late-stage
solar project pipeline to meet the growing
demand of clean solar energy in Mexico
and around the world.”
Power plans
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