Chile’s capital city is set to become home to one of the first subways in the world to source a majority of its power needs from renewable energy. Metro de Santiago, Latin America’s second largest subway system, will source 60 per cent of its energy from solar and wind projects. In a statement Metro de Santiago said that it had signed two 15-year agreements. California-based SunPower’s will supply 42 per cent of the subway system’s power with a 100-megawatt (MW) solar plant using 254,000 panels covering an area the size of 370 football fields, located in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert. The remaining 18 per cent will be provided by a recently developed wind farm located just north of the SunPower solar project, The Wall Street Journal said.
By 2050, renewables are expected to provide 70 per cent of the Chile’s electricity needs, up from 15 per cent in March 2017. Chile’s President, Michelle Bachelet, applauded the initiative, stating that the transition to renewable energy sources will generate enough power for the equivalent of 100,000 homes and reduce Chile’s CO2 emissions by around 130,000 tonnes each year.
