German firm wpd has taken part in the largest energy tender for the supply of electricity in Chile’s history and distanced its competitors in the market. As the Energy Ministry officially announced on Wednesday evening, three projects with wpd’s participation have been accepted. In the process, wpd has secured so-called “Power Purchase Agreements” (PPA) for 786.8 GWh per year with a term of 20 years from 2021.
“The whole team is delighted at this major success and is now highly motivated in proceeding to the next phase of the project”, states Dr. Hartmut Brösamle, CEO at wpd. “wpd will continue to develop the projects totalling 350 MW at full speed – so we have ambitious plans!”
The three wind energy projects comprise Malleco in the IXth region (Araucanía) as well as Negrete and Duqueco in the VIIIth region (Bío-Bío). This means they are all in the south of the country. The largest farm is Malleco with nearly 260 MW.
wpd made the move into Chile as early as seven years ago. It has its own office in the capital of Santiago de Chile. There a 13-strong team is dedicated to wind energy, working closely with their colleagues in Germany.
Chile has set itself ambitious expansion targets in the area of renewable energy: by 2050, its share of the electricity mix is to be 70 percent already. In its current tender for 12,430 GWh, Chile requested bids for an impressive volume for which new and existing projects comprising all types of power generation were allowed to bid. 84 companies submitted bids for 85,000 GWh. At the end, 28 bidders were successful.
wpd develops and operates onshore and offshore wind farms, and is actively engaged in 18 countries around the world, the head office is in Bremen. The company has realised wind energy projects with around 1,900 turbines and an output of 3,600 MW and is planning further onshore wind projects with a total of 6,700 MW. In addition, various projects make wpd one of the globally active offshore developers.
