The Chilean government is reportedly planning on laying down a vast submarine cable to transport photovoltaic energy to Asian countries like China. The ambitious project was unveiled by the Chilean solar energy association (ACESOL), which was reiterating the statements made by Chile’s President, Sebastián Piñera, at the National Meeting of Entrepreneurs (ENADE).
Following the announcement of project, called Antípodas, last week, the Chilean government aims on harnessing solar energy from the Atacama Desert region, known for having the highest solar radiation in the world.
Piñera explained at ENADE that the power cable would take the electricity generated by a solar farm, with a photovoltaic generation capacity between 200 to 600 GW, to Asian countries when its nighttime over there and daytime in chile or when it is summer in Chile and winter season in Asia.
Piñera stated that Chile boasts of deserts that receive the highest solar radiation across the globe, giving it an immense potential to generate renewable, clean, as well as economical solar energy, which can be exported to Asian countries during daytime.
The president, however, also added that this plan is still particularly ambitious, and will need further studying along with strategic alliances with various Asian economies. It is expected that the cable needed to transport the power would have to be 15,000 km long. Currently, it costs approximately $2 billion to build a 1,300 km long cable.
The country would also need to invest in new solar plants considering that, as per IRENA, it only has 3,106 MW of photovoltaic capacity installed.
Meanwhile, in Europe, UK-based firm, Xlinks, has also announced its plans to build a 10.5 GW renewable energy complex in Morocco and then selling the power generated there to the UK.
Back in August, Singapore-based enterprise, Sun Cable, had also proposed a similar solar PV and storage project to export energy from the Australian Outback to the country’s shores through a submarine transmission link.
Source credit: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/11/15/chile-wants-to-export-solar-energy-to-asia-via-15000km-submarine-cable/
