Chile's renewables output climbs 30% y/y in June 2015

Chile's renewable energy generation rose 30.5% year-on-year to 621 GWh last month, equal to 10.32% of the national market, the government's sustainable energy centre Cifes said in its monthly report on Monday.

Wind power led the renewables output with 204 GWh. Biomass plants produced 194 GWh, followed by small hydropower units with 118 GWh, while solar and biogas generation was 84 GWh and 21 GWh, respectively.

The country reached 2,278 MW of renewable energy in operation, with a new 19-MW hydroelectric plant in June and a total 265.6 MW launched since January. The government expects an additional 900 MW to be installed in the second half of the year. Currently, Chile has 894 MW of wind capacity in operation, 553 MW of photovoltaic (PV) power, 425 MW of biomass, 364 MW of mini hydro and some biogas units.

Solar installations are expected to surpass the wind capacity by the end of 2015 and continue their expansion in the next years, according to Patricio Goyeneche from Cifes. Today 86% of the renewable energy plants under construction are solar projects, while the PV projects approved alone in 2015 involve investments of USD 2 billion (EUR 1.8bn), he said.

Chile has set a target to boost renewables to 20% of its mix by 2025.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.920)

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