• • GROWTH. The company has tripled its assets in Chile within two and a half years, reaching a 922MW renewable capacity
  • CIRCULAR ECONOMY. The pallets used for transporting the complex’s PV modules are reused for the manufacturing of furniture as part of a training and employment program in the area

ACCIONA Energía has commissioned the Malgarida photovoltaic complex (238MWp) in the Atacama Desert in Chile. With this facility, ACCIONA Energía’s renewable power capacity in the country stands at 922MW, with a total of seven active installations.

The Malgarida I and Malgarida II plants will generate 654GWh of clean electricity annually, equivalent to the energy demand of 280,000 Chilean homes, which will avoid the emission of 512,000 tons of CO2 per year.

These new renewable facilities consist of 580,000 photovoltaic modules mounted on horizontal tracking structures and installed over an area of 535 hectares in the Atacama Desert, one of the regions with the highest radiation levels worldwide. The associated investment amounts to US$170 million (€144 million).

ACCIONA Energías growth in Chile is a great example the group’s project development and execution capacity. The company has tripled its operating assets in the country in the last two and a half years.

“We have made a great effort, both in construction and management, to move forward with the portfolio of projects contemplated in our development plan,” said José Ignacio Escobar, ACCIONA Energía’s director for South America. “In 2020, we put into operation the Tolpán Sur wind farm (84MW) and the Usya photovoltaic plant (64MWp) and began construction of Malgarida, which is already injecting energy into the national electricity system, reinforcing ACCIONA Energía’s leading position as the main exclusive operator of renewable energies in Chile.”

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Throughout the construction process of Malgarida, ACCIONA Energía articulated an innovative circular economy project in the commune of Diego de Almagro, where the complex is located, in collaboration with local authorities, social representatives and academic institutions.

The initiative aims to recycle the 25,000 wooden pallets that were used to transport the 580,000 photovoltaic modules installed in the complex.

To this end, ACCIONA Energía, in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Chile, developed a Technical Training Program in Circular Economy, manufacturing and entrepreneurship, which has provided social organizations in the commune with the equipment, knowledge and the skills necessary for the manufacture of furniture from pallets, such as vertical gardens, tables, shelves or facilities for hydroponic cultivation, among others.

The program aims to contribute to the economic and social development of the Diego de Almagro commune, while significantly reducing waste generation.

GROWTH IN CHILE

ACCIONA Energía’s operating portfolio in Chile includes three wind farms -Punta Palmeras (45MW), San Gabriel (183MW) and Tolpán Sur (84MW)- and five PV plants -El Romero (246MWp), Usya (64MWp), Almeyda (62MWp) and the Malgarida complex (238MWp) – combining a total installed capacity of 922MW.

Throughout the past year, the company has also increased its portfolio of corporate clients, which includes Movistar Chile, Google, Falabella, Nueva Atacama, LATAM Airlines Group, Empresa Nacional de Minería de Chile (ENAMI), state-owned ECONSSA, K+S, Winpack and the agricultural company Garcés Fruit, among others.

ACCIONA Energía has also signed supply contracts with country’s distributors and cooperatives as a result of the energy bidding processes for regulated customer consumption: “Tender 2013/03 2nd call” and “Tender 2015/01”.