About 200 megawatts per hour pulse from Latin America’s largest solar power station into nearby transmission lines that stretch more than 600km south to the capital Santiago from its location in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest and sunniest places on earth. “This is the face of the future of Chile,” says José Ignacio Escobar, general manager in Latin America for Spain’s Acciona, which built and operates El Romero. “Chile may be poor in old energy, but it is very rich in renewables. Can you see a single cloud?” he asks, gesturing towards the indigo sky that is so clear that the world’s most powerful telescopes are built in the Atacama. It is only recently that Chile began to harvest the formidable power of the Atacama’s sun. Just five years ago, the country produced negligible amounts of renewable energy and was heavily dependent on imports from its unreliable neighbours, suffering from blackouts and some of the highest energy prices in the world. But this shortage of fossil fuels has stimulated an unprecedented boom in investment in renewable — and especially solar — energy since then, despite a contraction in investment in almost all other sectors during a period of economic stagnation at the end of the commodities boom.
FT 7th Dec 2017 read more »
Controversial proposals for Wales’ largest solar farm have been given the green light. County councillors on Anglesey yesterday approved Countryside Renewables’ plans for the 49.9MW scheme covering 220 acres of farmland near Cemaes. The proposals, which were turned down last month, prompted a change of heart from members after being told that their reasons for refusal were unlikely to stand up if an appeal was made to Welsh Government planning inspectors.
Daily Post 7th Dec 2017 read more »
