Sun & Wind Energy

The German wind energy project developer SoWiTec has completed the five-year planning phase for the 90 MW wind farm Valle de Los Vientos in the north of Chile. The construction phase should start in the next months, and the wind farm is scheduled to go online in mid-2013. The investment costs for the wind farm, with 45 planned turbines and the transmission line, are around US$ 200 million.

The leasing contract for the operation of the wind farm on just over 850 ha of land near the town of Calama in the north of Chile and the construction and service contract for the 110 kV transmission line from the wind farm to the transformer station in Calama have been concluded for a period of 25 years. After more than three years of certified wind measurements at the project location, definition of the wind farm's layout and official environmental impact assessments for both the wind farm and the transmission line, the planning phase is now completed.

According to SoWiTec, with the Valle de Los Vientos wind farm the company has become the first project developer in Chile to receive a concession to use government lands for the transmission of energy from a non-conventional energy project. The company therefore sees itself as a pioneer in the development of a new framework for the development of wind farm projects in Chile.

Katharina Ertmer