SAG Solarstrom AG (SAG) plans to build a 2-megawatt photovoltaic pilot plant in Chile and is looking at larger projects in the country.
SAG Solarstrom will sell electricity from the facility, expected to begin operating in the first quarter, to the unidentified farm that owns the land, the Freiburg, Germany- based company said in a statement today. The project, which will also sell power on the spot market, will be in Coquimbo, a region 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Santiago.
"The 2-megawatt system provides us with the opportunity of gaining a foothold in a very interesting growth market," Karl Kuhlmann, chairman and chief executive officer of SAG Solarstrom, said in the statement. "We are already in talks on how to set up an appropriate project pipeline to include large- scale projects in Chile."
Solar irradiation, a measure of sunshine intensity, in Coquimbo is more than twice the level it is in Germany, the company said.
