Total and SunPower Corp. announced the completion of the 70MW PV Salvador project. Chilean Minister of Energy Máximo Pacheco and executives from Total and SunPower attended the inauguration event today in El Salvador in Chile's Atacama Desert.
"As one of the world's largest operating solar merchant power plants, PV Salvador represents an important milestone for the electricity generation industry, proving that solar can provide wholesale power at competitive prices in completely unsubsidized markets," said Bernard Clement, senior vice president, Total New Energies. "With our affiliate SunPower, we are pleased to assist the Chilean government in its goal to diversify its energy mix and we look forward to further developing our solar activities in the country."
PV Salvador power plant is expected to produce approximately 200GWh of solar electricity per year, enough to supply electricity to approximately 70,000 households in Chile.
"PV Salvador showcases advanced SunPower technology that will deliver maximized, cost-competitive solar power production over the next 25 years or more," said Jorg Heinemann, SunPower's executive vice president, global power plants, customer operations and EPC. "Together with Total, we are leading the market by delivering reliable, cost-effective clean power to Chile's utility grid, positively impacting local businesses and people."
SunPower will now provide on-going operations and maintenance. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. government's development finance institution, financed 70% of the approximately US$200 million project cost through long-term non-recourse project debt.