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Enel

Enel Green Power Reports 124% Jump In Renewable Energy Capacity Addition In 2016

written by saurabh

Enel’s Global Renewable Energies Division reported a record-breaking jump in capacity addition last year.

Enel Green Power reported that it added 2,018 megawatts of renewable energy capacity last year, a 124% increase from around 900 megawatts capacity added in 2015. Quite understandably, a good majority of the new capacity was added in developing markets, like Brazil, Mexico, Chile and South Africa.

“This record confirms once again the incredible efforts made by the entire Enel Green Power team,” said Francesco Venturini, Head of Enel’s Global Renewable Energies Division. “It’s a team result that makes us extremely proud. The credit goes to everyone who worked selflessly and steadfastly to attain this success.”

Solar and wind energy technologies dominated the capacity addition last year at Enel Green Power.

In Chile the company, through a subsidiary, added 542 megawatts of solar and wind energy projects. This includes 160 megawatts Finis Terrae solar PV park and 97 megawatts Carrera Pinto solar power project.

In Brazil, the company commissioned 102 MW Apiacás hydropower park in the state of Mato Grosso. The company has lined up several large-scale solar power projects in the country to be commissioned this year. These include a 254 megawatts and a 292 megawatts solar power project; the latter will be the largest solar power project in South America and also the largest solar power project owned by Enel when commissioned.

Additionally, Enel Green Power Peru is also working on a 160 megawatts solar power project which is expected to be commissioned this year.

Wind energy projects with cumulative capacity of 229 megawatts were commissioned in Mexico by Enel Green Power. The company added 470 megawatts of renewable energy capacity, second only to the United States. Enel Green Power RSA commissioned multiple solar and wind energy projects under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

The company added 573 megawatts of renewable energy capacity in the United States. This includes 200 megawatts wind energy capacity at Cimarron Bend wind farm. The wind farm will eventually have an installed capacity of 400 megawatts making it Enel’s largest wind energy project globally.

02/13/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Soltec Starts Installing Trackers At South America’s Largest Solar Power Project

written by saurabh

Installation of solar trackers on of what will soon become the largest operational solar power project in South America has begun.

Soltec, a Spanish manufacturer of single-axis trackers, has started installing trackers at the Piaui power plant owned by Enel Green Power Brasil Participações. The 292 megawatts solar power project was secured by the subsidiary of Enel through competitive auction.

This is the second large-scale solar power tracker installation taken by Soltec in Brazil. After completion of this project Soltec would have installed trackers at 450 megawatts of projects in the South American country.

Enel started construction of the Piaui solar power project last year. The project is expected to require a total investment of $300 million and generate more than 600 gigawatt-hours electricity annually. The project is expected to be operational by the second half of this year.

Enel already operates an 11 megawatts solar power project in Brazil and is also working on a 254 megawatts project. Together, these three projects will have a combined installed capacity of more than 550 megawatts. Enel has entered long-term agreements for sale of electricity from all these projects.

At present, the largest solar power project operational in South America belongs of Acciona Energia in Chile with installed capacity of 246 megawatts.

01/30/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Enel Commissions 97 MW Solar Power Project In Chile

written by saurabh

Enel Green Power has commissioned yet another solar power project in Chile, strengthening its position as a major developer in one of the fastest growing renewable energy markets in South America.

Enel Green Power Chile, a subsidiary of the Italian parent, recently announced the operationalisation of 97 MW solar PV power project in the Atacama region of Chile. The Carrera Pinto project required a total investment of $180 million and is expected to generate more than 260 GWh every year.

The project is connected to Chile’s central grid Sistema Interconectado Central (SIC) which may allow it to export electricity to far-off places within the country. Several solar power projects located in the Atacama desert have been facing the problem of curtailment as localised consumption at copper mines has fallen sharply and in the absence of adequate transmission infrastructure developers have been forced to inject electricity into the grid for free.

Enel Green Energy already operates the largest solar power project in South America; the project is also located in Chile. The 160 MW solar PV project started electricity generation earlier this year. The project has the capacity of generate more than 400 GWh electricity every year enough to power around 198,000 Chilean households and offset more than 198,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The project is connected to Chile’s Northern Region Transmission Network, SING (Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande).

Chile, already an attractive market for renewable energy project developers, announced measures to strengthen transmission network for easy absorption of renewable energy projects. A recently approved legislation will create a new interconnected transmission network to be established alongside a new independent operator. This will ensure that power generated from renewable energy projects located in remote regions of the country is supplied to population centres.

A reverse auction held in Chile, earlier this month, for supply of 12.34 TWh electricity saw solar power bids plunging to global low of US¢2.91/kWh.

08/24/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Wind Energy Scores Big In Chile’s Electricity Auction

written by saurabh

Update #2: The lowest solar price bid is now 2.42¢/kWh.

Update: It was Solarpack that set the record-low bid, not SunEdison, as originally indicated in this article. The article has been updated accordingly.

A couple of companies managed to secure a huge share in the latest electricity auction held in Chile, and auction where a new record-low solar bid was set (globally) and wind projects took 40% of the auctioned power contracts.

According to media reports, Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd. and Empresa Nacional de Electricidad/Chile SA won more than two-thirds of the electricity supply auction in Chile.

Meanwhile, Solarpack set a new record-low solar bid at 2.91¢/kWh ($29.1/MWh). That beats the 2.99¢/kWh bid a Masdar Consortium provided for an 800 MW solar power project in Dubai earlier this year.

Overall, entities participating in the Chile power auction bid to supply a total of 12.34 TWh of electricity every year.

In this auction project developers had to place bids for the price of electricity without disclosing the source. About half of the electricity supply, around 6.17 TWh, will be supplied from existing infrastructure, while the rest will require an investment of $3 billion, the energy minister of Chile stated.

Mainstream has won rights to supply 3.7 TWh of electricity every year (30% of the auctioned electricity), while Endesa, a subsidiary of Enel, will supply 4.9 TWh (40% of the auctioned electricity). There was a significant correction in tariff in this auction compared to previous one. The average tariff bid in the auction declined 40% to US$47.59 per MWh compared to the previous auction.

To supply the contracted electricity Mainstream will develop 7 wind energy projects with a total capacity of 985 MW. To achieve this capacity, the company is expected to invest $1.65 billion over the next 5 years. Electricity generated from these projects will be sold at tariffs between $38.8 per MWh and $47.2 per MWh.

Endesa will sell 4.9 TWh of electricity every year at an average tariff of $50.83 per MWh. Media reports do not mention the type of technology Endesa will use to supply the electricity, but solar and wind power are possibilities and it’s hard to see anything else competing with them at such a low price. Enel commissioned a 160 MW solar power project in the country earlier this year.

Another boost to renewable energy development may come from Spain’s Acciona, which will supply 506 GWh electricity every year.

Fresh investment commitments from renewable energy project developers, like Mainstream, come as no surprise as the government recently approved legislation that will create a new interconnected transmission network to be established alongside a new independent operator. This will ensure that power generated from renewable energy projects located in remote regions of the country is supplied to population centres.

“Nobody expected the energy price in the PV block to go below $30/MWh, but it is important to keep in mind that the tender cannot be evaluated just by its lowest price bid,” Christian Siemoneit, Managing Partner at Hansalia, told Cleantechies in response to the news. “In general we can see the high competitiveness of the Chilean energy market but also the low costs of capital of Enel / Endesa and Mainstream. The competition of utilities and IPPs with large-scale solar projects is very hard at the moment. But there are still opportunities in this sector, especially for wind parks and smaller solar projects. We see very attractive investment conditions and decent returns with renewable energy in Chile also over the next few years.”

Images by vectoropenstock.com and CleanTechnica

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08/18/2016 0 comment

Articles Renewable Energy

Enel Commissions Latin America’s Largest Solar Power Project

written by saurabh

Chile recently had its largest solar power project connected to the grid – a 160 MW solar PV power project commissioned in the northern part of the country.

Enel Green Power Chile Ltda. recently announced that it commissioned a 160 MW solar PV power project located in the municipality of María Elena in the Antofagasta Region, around 1,300 km north of Santiago.

The project has the capacity of generate more than 400 GWh electricity every year enough to power around 198,000 Chilean households and offset more than 198,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Enel reported that it invested around $270 million in the construction of the project. Power generated from the project shall be delivered to Chile’s Northern Region Transmission Network, SING (Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande).

Enel, through its subsidiary, now operates a combined installed capacity of over 880 MW, of which 364 MW comes from wind power, 430 MW from PV solar and 92 MW from hydropower. Additionally, the company has a pipeline of 300 MW capacity under development, including a 48 MW geothermal power plant – slated to be the first in South America.

The project is not expected to hold on to the tag of being the largest solar power project in Latin America for long. By the end of the next year, Enel is expected to commission a 254 MW solar power project that it has already started construction on in Brazil. In the recent auctions of solar power projects in Brazil, Enel has managed to secure 553 MW capacity.

05/31/2016 0 comment

Articles Renewable Energy

350 MW Abu Dhabi Solar Project Draws Interest From Across The World

written by saurabh

Companies from US, Europe, India, China and Japan have expressed interest in bidding, and eventually developing, 350 MW solar power projects in Abu Dhabi.

A total of 34 companies or consortiums have qualified as bidders for the 350 MW solar PV project planned by the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA). Eight of these entities have qualified as main developers of the projects while others, if selected, will act as ‘managing members’ and technical advisors.

Entities qualified as main developers are mostly from the developed markets like the US and Europe. These include First Solar, EDF, Enel, Engie, RWE/Belectric, Solar Reserve and Total/Sunpower. A consortium led by South Korean utility KEPCO has also qualified for the next stage of bidding.

Geographical diversity increases substantially as one looks into the category of technical advisors (category B) and managing members (category C). Several Indian and Chinese companies have qualified as technical advisors for the next round of biddings. These include Jinko Solar, China State Construction Engineering Corp., Adani Enterprises, Acme Solar, Hindustan Clean Energy, and ReNew Power Ventures.

Qualified entities in the category of possible managing members include AWCA Power, Marubeni, Mitsui, and Masdar.

Selected entities in categories B and C are now expected to enter talks with entities to be selected as main developers. The procedure is expected to be the same as that for the 200 MW solar power auction in Dubai solar power park. ACWA Power partnered with First Solar and TSK to bid the lowest-ever solar PV tariff of US¢5.84/kWh.

Abu Dhabi already hosts one of the largest solar concentrated power projects in Asia – Shams 1.

04/28/2016 0 comment