The Environmental Assessment Commission of the Ñuble region unanimously approved, this Wednesday, the environmental impact declaration (DIA) of the Pemuco Wind Farm project, by the company Engie Energía Chile, which will be located in the commune of Pemuco.
The body, made up of ten seremis and chaired by the regional presidential delegate, Anwar Farrán, gave the green light to the generation project, but with conditions.
“Although the Environmental Evaluation Service recommended approving this project in its entirety, we have placed a couple of conditions on it. The first thing is that the region faces an electrical transmission problem and we are interested in ensuring that projects that have to do with electrical generation contribute to our region from that perspective. The second has to do with compensations and mitigations regarding the houses that are around this wind complex; We are requesting that the houses around three kilometers install thermopane windows to, in some way, mitigate the noise generated by these wind towers and also that the inhabitants of the commune of Pemuco have some type of benefit on their electricity rates, I understand that Because it is a generating commune, that might provide a benefit to the inhabitants (…) This is a project that will last for 40 years and we also have to worry regarding the communities,” said the delegate, following the session.
The project
The project consists of the construction and operation of a wind farm that will have a nominal generation power of 194.4 MW, whose main works will be the 27 wind turbines of 6.2 MW of power, a lifting electrical substation and a high voltage line of 4.2 kilometers, which will allow the energy generated to be evacuated, until connecting with the Entre Ríos electrical substation.
According to the DIA – entered into the SEA in October 2022 -, the park will represent a total investment of US$230 million and its construction will last 24 months, during which an average workforce of 200 people will be required, with a peak of 450. For its operation phase, meanwhile, the plant will generate ten direct jobs.
Regarding the start of the works, the company has not yet reported a date.
Although the French multinational is one of the largest players in electricity generation in Chile, this will be the first project that is expected to take place in the region.
From Engie they stated that the park “will power nearly 60 thousand homes in the south of the country with renewable energy, which will mean a reduction of almost 425 thousand tons of CO2 pollution per year.”
They also highlighted that “the project contemplated early socialization work with the communities through various instances of citizen participation and the operation of a Community Relations Office in the commune of Pemuco, to carry out a process of dialogue and reach the realization of various voluntary environmental commitments that the company assumed with its neighbors.”
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