Total, French multinational integrated oil and gas company, and American company SunPower Corporation signed a power purchase agreement. Under agreement, Metro of Chilean capital Santiago will be supplied with renewable energy generated at a 100-megawatt solar power plant in the Atacama and Coquimbo regions in Chile.
"This contract is expressing Chile's commitment for a sustainable world. We are proud to partner with Metro in developing a new way of powering public transportation systems through competitive, reliable and clean energy. This project supports our ambition to become the responsible energy major," said Bernard Clément, senior vice president of Business & Operations, of the New Energies division of Total.
Eduardo Medina, executive vice president of global power plants at SunPower, added, "SunPower is proud to serve Metro of Santiago's growing energy demand with cost-competitive, renewable solar power. Solar is an ideal energy source for Chile because of the country's high solar resource and transparent energy policies. In partnership with Total, SunPower is committed to the continued growth of our business in Chile."
According to the agreement, SunPower will design and build a fully-integrated, modular power plant system that allows for a rapid and cost-efficient deployment of utility-scale solar projects. This system will also include robotic solar panel cleaning capability that requires up to 75% less water than traditional cleaning methods and can boost system performance by up to 15%.
The solar power plant will cover up to 60% of Metro’s energy demand, making it the world’s first public transportation system that runs mostly on solar energy.
According to SunPower, the construction of the solar power plant will begin this year. The plant will start its operation by the end of 2017. The company also undertook a responsibility to provide maintenance once the plant is operational.
Source: SunPower
by Natalie Myhalnytska
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