Chile connects first floating PV plant to grid under web payment plan

• Programmer Solarity has finished the first floating PV selection to be connected to the nationwide circulation network under Chile's net billing plan. The plant will supply 100% of project owner Hortifrut's power requirements, while allowing it to sell excess power to the grid.

Chilean Energy Minister Juan Carlos Jobet ushered in the biggest grid-connected floating solar plant in Chile recently.

Chilean programmer Solarity developed the plant throughout 1,500 square meters of a reservoir at a dam owned by the Mataquito-Hortifrut agricultural business. The floating selection, which includes 456 PV components, is now connected to the nationwide distribution network under Chile's web billing system, which permits plant proprietors to source 100% of their energy requires from their projects, while offering excess power to the grid.

The Mataquito-Hortifrut plant's output amounts the regular monthly electrical power consumption of 116 families, or around 626,400 kWh. Juan Ignacio Allende, company general manager of Hortifrut, claimed that the project is the initial floating PV plant to be attached to the Chilean electrical energy grid, and also the business's eighth functional solar project.

"We are devoted to ... progressing the development and also execution of renewable energy in our areas, throughout the country, to change at the very least 50% of the power that we presently make use of," he stated.

Chile's initial floating PV plant was developed by French floating PV professional Ciel & Terre and Chilean integrator Lenergie in March 2019. The standalone project was deployed at a copper mine possessed by international mining firm Anglo American.

South America has the possible to release 36 GW of floating solar capacity, according to a recent record by the World Bank. The region's largest operational floating PV system is a 1 MW installation developed by power producer Companhia Hidroelétrica do São Francisco (Chesf) at a 175 MW hydroelectric dam in Sobradinho, in the Brazilian state of Bahia.