A concentrated solar power facility in Chile will help reduce emissions at a coal-fired power plant, German and French energy companies announced.
GDF Suez has teamed with German renewable energy company Solar Power Group to develop a 5MW concentrated solar power plant. The facility will heat water for steam production at the 150 MW Mejillones coal plant in northern Chile. The solar boiler will connect directly to the coal-fired power plant, reducing coal consumption and decreasing the amount of harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
“The inclusion of our solar boilers in the Mejillones plant is an important milestone on a path toward affordable clean energy production,” said Jacques de Lalaing, founding and managing director of Solar Power Group.
GDF Suez points to estimates from the International Energy Agency that suggest more than 10 percent of global electricity production will come from concentrated solar power by 2050.