The phasing-out of eight coal-fired power plants in 5 years and the goal of total withdrawal by 2040, was announced this June 04, 2019 by the president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, together with the energy minister, Susana Jiménez and the Environment Minister, Carolina Schmidt. This action takes place within the framework of a plan to decarbonize the energy matrix that seeks to make Chile a carbon neutral country by 2050.
Through this important action it is estimated that the level of emissions from the electric sector, instead of reaching 30 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year will be 4 million tons of CO2 per year.
These units’ withdrawal process, which are located in the municipalities of Iquique (1), Tocopilla (4), Puchuncaví (2) and Coronel (1), will be carried out through a timetable that establishes the cessation of the first 1,047 MW of the eight oldest plants by 2024. These units together represent 19% of the total installed capacity of coal-fired plants.
The first plants to close this year will be units 12 and 13 located in the district of Tocopilla, which started their operation 36 and 34 years ago respectively and which together have an installed capacity of 171 megawatts.
“Technological advances make it possible to gradually replace the coal-fired power plants with others that are renewable and competitive, which are highly available in our country, such as the energies coming from the sun, wind, land and water,” explained the Minister of Energy of Chile, Susana Jiménez.
Source: Ministry of Energy of Chile.
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