EVALUATING THE POTENTIAL FOR SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY UTILIZATION IN CHILE

Resumo

The Atacama Desert, located in northern Chile, is regarded as one of the regions with the highest solar radiation in the world. However, Chile exploits limited renewable energy resources, currently represented by hydroelectric generation, wood based biomass and incipient wind farms. Thus, the country relies heavily on fuel imports to meet its growing energy demand, making it a growing net importer of energy. Therefore, it is of critical importance for Chile to secure adequate energy supplies, ensuring that imported energy is accessible through international markets in order to satisfy any requirements that cannot be met by its internal production. Renewable energy is emerging as an interesting alternative to fossil fuels, and therefore it is important to evaluate the resource potential of wind, solar, geothermal and other energy sources. Herein, we present an evaluation of the potential for solar thermal energy applications in Chile, obtained through computer simulations using a solar radiation database obtained from the Chile-SR satellite estimation model. The results show that there is good potential for the application of solar technologies throughout the country, with solar fractions for both flat plate and evacuated tube solar thermal collectors being higher than 0.4. CSP plants can achieve up to 50% more electricity production than those in Spain. The high availability of solar radiation in Chile constitutes a good opportunity for the deployment of technologies which could help the country achieve a greater degree of energy independence.