Colbún S.A. recently announced the award of 15-year power purchase agreement to Total and SunPower for 500-gigawatt hours (GWh) of photovoltaic solar energy per year and the construction of a 164MW solar power plant. The award was selected from 13 competitive tender bids and submission of more than 20 power purchase agreement alternatives.
SunPower and Total intend to meet their obligations under this contract through the construction of a 164 MW solar PV project. SunPower will serve as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor, and will build the plant using its modular Oasis Power Block product. The Oasis technology features robotic solar panel cleaning capability that uses 75 percent less water compared to traditional cleaning methods and helps enhance system performance by about 15 percent.
Thomas Keller, CEO of Colbún said: “This contract is a further step towards strategy optimising our generation mix and strengthening our market position.”
Colbún is the second largest energy generation company in Chile’s Central Interconnected System (SIC) and has promoted the development of more than 350 MW of NCRE power generation projects, including solar, mini-hydro and wind technologies. Colbún owns 23 power stations in Chile (SIC) and one in Peru (SEIN, through which it delivers 3,852MW of the installed capacity.
Bernard Clément, senior vice president of Business & Operations, of the New Energies division of Total, announced: “As a world leader in the solar industry, we are proud to launch a new solar project with Colbún, delivering 500-gigawatt hours per year of reliable, cost-effective clean power.” He continued with, “We are pleased to assist Chile in the diversification of its energy mix and we look forward to further developing our solar activities in the country. This project supports our ambition to become the responsible energy major.”
“SunPower is proud to provide Colbún’s customers with cost-competitive, renewable solar power,” said Eduardo Medina, executive vice president, global power plants, at SunPower. “Solar is an ideal energy source for Chile because of the country’s high solar resource and transparent energy policies. In partnership with Total, SunPower is committed to the continued growth of our business in Chile.”
In April, Colbún announced that it would purchase two of SunEdison’s solar PV projects under development in Chile, along with their long-term power supply contracts.