- The electricity will come from the photovoltaic plant ‘El Romero Solar’, currently under construction.
ACCIONA Energía and Google have entered into a deal to supply Google’s datacenter in Chile with 100% renewable energy. The supply will come from the photovoltaic plant ‘El Romero Solar’ that ACCIONA is building in the Atacama Region and that will become one of the ten largest solar photovoltaic plants in the world.
El Romero will be able to inject up to 80 MW of clean solar energy into Chile’s central electricity grid, which is the same grid that Google’s data center draws its energy from, when the project comes online in 2017.
The contract is the result of an international bidding process, where the most prestigious companies in the sector participated and where ACCIONA Energía was awarded.
With this agreement, Google shows its commitment to the environment in its operations, while ACCIONA strengthens its customer base with a partner that shares its vision and values in sustainability, as well as to secure its presence in the country.
“Initiatives like this one from Google make it possible to develop renewable projects as ambitious as ‘El Romero Solar’, and contribute decisively so that clean energy can occupy the place it deserves in a sustainable energy model for Chile and the world”, declared José Ignacio Escobar, General Manager for ACCIONA Energía Chile
”We are pleased to announce this innovative deal, just when the international community tries to agree on measures that will allow to fight more efficiently against climate change”.
Sam Arons, Manager of Energy and Infrastructure at Google, explained how El Romero fits into Google’s overall strategy: 'We have entered a series of contracts worldwide that will nearly double our renewable power globally, from 1.2GW to 2GW, and we‘re working to power 100% of our operations this way.
The El Romero Project is a key project for us, since it represents not only our first large-scale purchase of renewable energy in Latin America, but it’s also one of our first datacenter solar contracts. It will allow us to power our data center with renewable energy coming fully from the sun”.
A big photovoltaic complex
The photovoltaic plant ‘El Romero Solar’, which is already under construction, will be the biggest one in Latin America and one of the ten largest in the world. With 247 MWp of maximum power (196 nominal MW), it will produce around 500 GWh annually, which will avoid the emission of 473,000 tons of CO2 in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
Located in the Vallenar community of the Atacama Region, the solar plant will cover an approximate area of 280 hectares, with a solar field area of 1.5 million of m2, which amounts to 211 football pitches.
El Romero Solar will be the second asset that ACCIONA Energía owns in Chile, after the Punta Palmeras wind farm, of 45 MW, located in the Coquimbo Region.
Experience
ACCIONA Energía has more than 15 years of experience in the design, construction and operation of photovoltaic plants. During this time, it has installed 24 stations with a total capacity of 234 MWp, of which 143 MWp are owned by the company.
Among their installations, the ones that stand out are the Sishen plant (94.3 MWp) in South Africa, which generates the biggest production in the African continent, and the Amareleja plant in Portugal, with 45.8 MWp.