Chile’s Atacama Desert is attracting the attention of more big solar developers.
Just a month after SunEdison closed a $100 million deal to build the San Andrés solar farm, French energy giant Total and Etrion Corporation and SunPower Corp. have announced the securing of $200 million in financing for the construction of Project Salvador, a 70-megawatt-peak (MWp) photovoltaic power plant.
The facility will be the largest merchant solar plant in the world, selling its energy at spot market prices to a local utility.
Under a long-term non-recourse loan, the U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has agreed to fund 70 percent of Project Salvador. The remaining 30 percent equity portion will be funded by Etrion, Total and the initial project developer, Solventus, based on their ownership interests of 70, 20 and 10 percent, respectively.
“We are pleased that OPIC has agreed to finance the plant and that we have launched construction of the Salvador project, which will benefit from our affiliate SunPower’s record-breaking photovoltaic technology,” said Bernard Clement, Total New Energies’ senior vice president business operations.
“As the largest solar merchant power plant in the world, this project will deliver advanced solar generation, operation technologies and management practices while creating a significant positive impact on local businesses and people.”
SunPower, a subsidiary of Total, will begin construction of the plant this week using SunPower Oasis Power Block technology. Located on 133-hectares of Atacama land leased from the Chilean government, Project Salvador will produce approximately 200 gigawatt-hours (GW/h) of solar electricity per year, enough to supply approximately 80,000 households. The power is to be sold on the spot market and delivered to the Sistema Interconectado Central (SIC) electricity network.
“This project represents an important milestone for the energy industry, proving that solar can provide wholesale power at prices competitive with conventional generation technologies,” said Howard Wenger, president, regions of SunPower.
