Chilean President Sebastian Piñera has inaugurated his country’s largest wind farm at an official ceremony.
The 90 MW Talinay East wind power plant is owned by Enel Green Power and features 45 Vestas V100 2 MW wind turbines in the country’s central Coquimbo region.
Piñera said Chile is making progress towards its energy goals by “approving almost 5000MW per year, 80% of which is clean renewable energy”.
The head of state said he hopes to boost the clean power sector by way of interconnection of Chile’s two major independent grid networks, construction of an “electric highway” of new transmission infrastructure and a new law regulating land use.
Talinay shares the crown as Chile’s largest wind site with another Enel facility, Valle de los Vientos, which features an identical array of Vestas machines in the northern region of Antofagasta.
Enel acquired Talinay from Vestas last year. Previous owners of the project include Spain’s Enhol and business conglomerate Grupo Phoenix. Up to 500MW of wind capacity is planned at future phases of the site.