Chile to close eight coal-fired power stations

• 4 years ago (2019-06-05)
• David Flin

Coal 273 Latin America 75

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Chile has announced that it will close eight coal-fired power stations over the next five years as part of a plan to switch entirely to renewable energy by 2040. The closures, announced by Sebastian Pinera, President of Chile, account for 23GW, around 20 per cent of the country’s energy capacity. Pinera said: “The steps that we are announcing are a concrete and real way of transforming words and commitments into facts and realities.”

Chile, a net importer of energy, has relied increasingly on coal-powered electricity generation over the last decade, driven largely by the end of imports of natural gas from Argentina. Imports were resumed last year under a new agreement with Buenos Aires, leading Chile to lessen its reliance on coal.

About 40 per cent of Chile’s electricity generation comes from 28 coal-fired power stations. The goal is to replace them all by 2040 and become fully carbon-neutral by 2050.

The shutdown of four coal-fired plants in Tocopilla, as well as others in Iquique, Puchuncavi, and in the southern city of Coronel, will reduce annual CO2 emissions from the current 30 million tonnes annually to four million tonnes per year by 2024, the Government said. Pinera said: “Once they are shut down, the plants will remain mothballed in a state of operational reserve, ready to be called into service in an emergency at any time over the following five-year period.”

Pinera has continued to pursue Chile’s drive towards clean energy first begun under his predecessor Michelle Bachelet, favouring renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, and geothermal sources.