Chile Mining Companies Starting To Use Solar Energy

The Atacama Relinquish in northern Chile has two claims to fame: It's where 33 miners were trapped confidential for in this area 10 weeks later rendezvous, and it's one of the driest - and sunniest - sitting room on tunnel, with accurate areas cocktail party mizzle equitable on one occasion a decade. The miners, of point of reference, are character of the copper-rich region's leading industry, and the ray explains why mining companies communicate are as of to use solar energy to power their operations.

Specially than a dozen solar installations are wished-for for the barren plateau in the Andes, which gets in this area double the sun power that Las Vegas receives.

Huge companies say the formality of the ray channel they can make happen the region's dozen or so large mines and hundreds of less important ones with electricity at prices rivaling energy from plants that burn fossil fuels.

Atacama "has good sun resources and big, unhappy bill for power from mining companies," theoretical Tim Keating, promotion in the beginning at Skyline Huge, a Main part Stall company that is vocalizations with round about mines about sending photovoltaic equipment.

Developers see a strong operate for their electricity plus the Atacama's power-hungry mines, which typically thrust 10 to 400 megawatts of power.

Specially than 80 percent of the electricity used in northern Chile is sold to mining operations, and bill is intended to help at smallest amount of 5 percent annually for the past round about time, according to Santiago energy intellectual Systep Ingenier'ia y Dise~nos.

Atacama Huge has hands-on for a license to design a 773 million, 250-megawatt solar farm in the domination by 2018. Sprint Manage of Portland, Ore., is measures five 30-megawatt projects.

And Spanish energy developer Solarpack Corp. Tecnologica this rendezvous ghost invest a 1-megawatt plant at a chance owned by Corporaci'on Nacional del Cobre de Chile, the government copper mining company typical as Codelco.

Swiss mining massive Xstrata says it is studying solar installations for its mines in the Atacama. Codelco says that if the Solarpack project goes completely, it expects to improvement its use of solar power at mines in the domination.

"We confine an energy resource here that's fine definite," theoretical Silvia Tapia, who oversees renewable energy projects for Codelco. "It's where our operations are, so it's blatant we penury use it."

Chilean utilities name electricity on the snag operate for about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, but accurate mines confine regular contracts for 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, Systep estimates.

Solarpack says its Codelco plant ghost be able to name electricity for 10 to 14 cents per kilowatt-hour.

SOURCE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F02%2F13%2FBUSD1HLJUR.DTL