Concession contracts for NCRE projects double in last 7 months
– Went from 795 MW in December 2012 to 1,493 MW at present. A total of 24 grants have been delivered
– A total of 12,707 hectares is considered, of which 10,006 will be allocated to wind projects and 2.701 to solar projects
Optimists. So they are in the Ministry of National Heritage, after the concession process for public lands to be occupied in projects Non Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) received a high attendance.
The biminister of Housing and National Assets, Rodrigo Pérez Mackenna, said that in December 2012 had already approved 795 MW, which projected 16 initiatives in the north of the country, on land totaling 7,858 hectares. Among these, 12 were solar-type and 4 wind farms. However, after seven months, authorized generating capacity almost doubled reaching 1,493 MW, with a total of 24 awards for NCRE projects, which include 12,707 hectares.
“There has been a significant increase in companies with concession contract, happening now nearly 1,500 MW. In these first months of the year has been good news in terms of NCRE “he said.
Of the 24 projects, seven are wind farms with 889 MW and 17 are solar, with 604 MW. Most are concentrated in the Antofagasta region (13) in Atacama (5) and in the Tarapaca (5).
All grants awarded have been given to foreign companies. These include Enel, Mainstream and SunEdison.
Pérez Mackenna said the idea is that these projects be a future contribution to the country’s energy capacity, which currently reaches 17,000 MW, with a matrix composed by 3% NCRE, 34% hydro and 63% thermal generation.
Increasing applications
Requests for access to a concession of this type also result in positive numbers. Up to date reaches 265, and to materialize would mean over 10,000 MW for the electrical system, according to estimates of the portfolio.
Of the total applications, 83% are in the regional Seremis, while the remaining 17% is already centrally, which means that already passed the first regional stage and are being analyzed by the portfolio. The latter correspond to 28 applications that exceed 1,200 MW of installed capacity.
Applications are mainly concentrated in the Antofagasta Region, with 123 projects. It follows by Atacama with 99 and Tarapacá with 25. Consider 255 solar projects and 10 wind farms, and in total an area of 50,478 hectares.
In view of the number of requests that entered to access public lands that the Ministry of National Assets placed in a position to develop this type of project, portfolio sought a mechanism to ensure that initiatives are executed.
“There is the possibility that someone requests a lot of acres and then not develop a project in that place and blocks the rest,” said the minister. To avoid this situation, he explained that since May it took into effect a change in the system of granting concessions, consisting of the payment of rent concession set at 5 UF per hectare and delivery of bonds from execution of works, for 150 UF per hectare.
He added that this new formula incorporates two stages, which last two years for the winners of the awards. The first one correspond to the study, during which companies can develop their analysis and decide whether or not to execute the project, while the second one is the investment.
Source: La Tercera
