Endesa Chile has decided to waive water exploitation rights for the construction of five hydropower plants, totalling 821MW in capacity.
The company said that these projects can no longer be considered socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.
Endesa, a subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, seeks to create shared value in the community it operates and it can sometimes mean going back on what has been said.
For the past two years, the company has been embracing a new growth strategy and group business lines which review feasibility in terms of environmental, social and economic sustainability for all the infrastructural projects that are still being assessed.
Under this new approach, Endesa Chile’s board of directors decided to waive water exploration rights for the construction of the five hydroelectric power plants.
The plants that will no longer be built include for the Bardon, Chillan 1 and 2, Futaleufu, Puelo and Huechun.
Endesa CEO Valter Moro said: “In line with the Group’s Strategic Plan, we intend to focus exclusively on the construction of technically and economically feasible infrastructure that is shared with the communities where it will be built.
“As regards these hydropower projects, based on studies that have been conducted, we found that they were no longer sustainable and thus waived our water exploitation rights, restoring them to Endesa Chile so they can be used for another type of development.”
The company also said that its Chilean subsidiary will be working on optional project portfolio for faster development of projects that are competitive and are necessary for the country’s development.
Image: Enel’s subsidiary Endesa suspends its rights to develop hydropower projects in Chile. Image: Courtesy of Enel Spa.