Spain’s OHL to build utility-scale PV in Chile for Austrian developer

Sep 13, 2019 05:15 PM ET
Spain’s OHL to build utility-scale PV in Chile for Austrian developer
Image: Chile Satelital / Flickr
Clean Capital Energy (CCE) has picked a Spanish firm with a track record in Latin American solar to build a utility-scale project in Chile’s centre-north.

The Austrian developer selected Spain’s Obrascón Huarte Lain (OHL) to deploy the 89MW La Huella project in the region of Coquimbo, north of capital Santiago de Chile.

The contract will see OHL take care of engineering and construction of CCE’s solar scheme, as well as commissioning and long-term running and maintenance of the installation.

“In addition, work related to the electrical interconnection of the plant with the Transmission Grid and Chile's National Electric System will be addressed,” OHL explained in a statement this week.

La Huella scheme – valued at €70 million (US$77 million) – marks the latest EPC assignment for the Spanish firm, which operates out of offices in Europe and America.

The construction group claims to have installed 650MW of renewables over the past eight years across the US, Mexico, Uruguay, Spain, Italy and Jordan.

Nearly half of OHL’s EPC work pipeline to date – 300MW – was secured in Chile, Spain and Mexico in the past year alone, according to the company’s statement.

OHL's most recent batch includes building the 120MW Perote PV project in Mexico for Spanish developer X-Elio, plus similar Mexican (37MW) and Spanish (50MW) EPC deals with OPDEnergy.

For its part, La Huella’s Austrian sponsor CCE is said to have deployed an 800MW solar portfolio worldwide to date, with a further 1.6GW under development.

The developer and investor is also active in the residential solar scheme, offering construction, financing and maintenance services for arrays on private homes and apartment blocks.

News on 89MW La Huella brings another utility-scale PV newcomer to Chile, which is witnessing a surge of developments in the Atacama Desert, to the north of Coquimbo.

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