[Vision2020] Chile's Solar Power Boom; Solar/Wind Runs Most of Metro System

Tom Hansen thansen at moscow.com
Sun Jun 5 14:14:49 PDT 2016


Jus' a suggestion for Gary Crabtree . . .

"Give Up the Funk"
http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/Give_Up_The_Funk.mp3

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still.
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

- John Lennon

> On Jun 5, 2016, at 1:52 PM, Nicholas Gier <ngier006 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear Mr. Crabtree:
> 
> Socialist President Michelle Bachelet has had two terms in office (2006-2010; 2013-present) and her cautious and wise rule stands in stark contrast to her Venezuelan counterparts. Therefore, your baseless prediction is way off the mark.
> 
> nfg
> 
>> On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 8:27 AM, Kenneth Marcy <kmmos1 at frontier.com> wrote:
>> That's an interesting list with lots of languages represented.  If the list is rearranged to GDP by language, though, it appears that just four language families dominate the world economy.  The Teutonic family, the Latinate family, the Sinitic family, and Japanese dominate well over 80 percent of the world's gross domestic product production.  English, at about 35 percent, exceeds its next nearest language competitor, Japanese, by 25 percent of world GDP, and the Latinate languages together produce about 18 percent of the world's output.  Economic freedom, GDP production, and language spoken are separate concepts, of course, but their interactions are interesting.  Google gdp by language for links to more detailed lists.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Ken
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On 6/4/2016 10:11 PM, Ron Force wrote:
>>> Mr Crabtree-- the Heritage Foundation ranks Chile 7th in the world for economic freedom (2016). The US is ranked 11th.
>>> http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
>>> 
>>> Ron Force
>>> Moscow Idaho USA
>>> 
>>>> On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 8:11 PM, g crabtree <direoutcome at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Golly, and premium gasoline is practically free in Venezuela. (under a nickel a gallon) Once Chile's new socialist president has had a few years to enact her progressive policies, the people of South Americas most stable and prosperous nation might be lucky enough to partake of the pleasures the Venezuelan populace is becoming accustomed to. (toilet paper and food are rather bourgeoisie after all) 
>>>> 
>>>> g
>>>> 
>>>>> On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 12:43 PM, Nicholas Gier <ngier006 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Here is what Latin America' Best Socialist Government is Doing. nfg
>>>>> 
>>>>> Chile Producing So Much Solar Energy It’s Giving Electricity Away for Free
>>>>> 
>>>>> By Lorraine Chow
>>>>> 
>>>>> http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/06/03/chile-producing-much-solar-energy-giving-electricity-away-free/
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks to Chile’s major investments in renewables, the Latin American country is seeing an incredible solar boom.
>>>>> 
>>>>> In a new Bloomberg report, Chile Has So Much Solar Energy It’s Giving It Away for Free, solar capacity from the country’s central grid has increased four fold to 770 megawatts since 2013. Another 1.4 gigawatts will be added this year with many solar power projects under development.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks to an economic boost from increased mining production, Chile now has 29 solar farms and another 15 in the pipeline. Enel Green Power Chile Ltda. recently commissioned Chile’s largest solar PV project connected to the grid. The 160-megawatt facility will be located in the northern part of the country in the municipality of María Elena, about 1,300 kilometers north of Santiago.
>>>>> 
>>>>> With so much clean power available, the price of solar has cost absolutely nothing for certain regions in recent months. As Bloomberg stated:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Spot prices reached zero in parts of the country on 113 days through April, a number that’s on track to beat last year’s total of 192 days, according to Chile’s central grid operator.
>>>>> 
>>>>> However, the article points out that Chile’s rapid solar expansion isn’t all good news. Due to the nation’s bifurcated power grid, the central and northern grids are not connected.
>>>>> 
>>>>> PV Insider noted that most of the demand is in the central grid, yet the best solar resource in the country resides in the Atacama desert in the north. The northern grid represents approximately 24 percent of installed capacity whereas the central grid holds the majority of capacity at 74 percent of installed megawatts.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The northern grid is where solar prices are going to zero, Bloomberg noted. Meanwhile, the main population centers in the south are not seeing the same benefits.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Chile, therefore, must invest in its transmission infrastructure in order for the whole country to tap into the north’s glut solar power and stabilize demand.
>>>>> 
>>>>> “Chile has at least seven or eight points in the transmission lines that are collapsed and blocked, and we have an enormous challenge to bypass the choke points,” Energy Minister Maximo Pacheco told the publication. “When you embark on a path of growth and development like the one we’ve had, you obviously can see issues arising.”
>>>>> 
>>>>> The good news is that the Chilean government is addressing the problem with its planned 1,865-mile transmission line that will link the two grids by 2017.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Santiago’s Metro System to Become World’s First to Be Powered Largely by Solar and Wind
>>>>> 
>>>>> https://ecowatch.com/2016/05/31/santiago-metro-system-solar-wind/
>>>>> 
>>>>> The subway system in Chile’s capital will soon be the world’s first to run largely on renewable energy sources.
>>>>> The Metro de Santiago, the second-longest metro system in Latin America after Mexico City, has signed two agreements, one with a solar energy provider and another with a wind power company, which will provide 60 percent of metro’s energy needs by 2018.
>>>>> 
>>>>> An announcement of the $500 million deal was made last week by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet during a visit to the National Stadium station that’s currently under construction.
>>>>> 
>>>>> “More than two and a half million passengers use the Metro daily,” she said. “[They] will not only be able to travel faster and safer; they will also be able to travel in a means of transport that cares for the planet, which reduces our carbon footprint and that makes possible a sustainable future for all.”
>>>>> 
>>>>> California solar company SunPower, an affiliate of French oil company Total, will begin construction of the El Pelícano Solar Project, a 100-megawatt facility near the municipalities of La Higuera and Vallenar. The solar plant, expected to go live by the end of 2017, will supply 300 gigawatt hours per year of clean energy to Metro de Santiago, or 42 percent of its annual energy demands.
>>>>> 
>>>>> “SunPower is proud to serve Metro of Santiago’s growing energy demand with cost-competitive, renewable solar power,” Eduardo Medina, the executive vice president of SunPower’s global power plants, said. “Solar is an ideal energy source for Chile because of the country’s high solar resource and transparent energy policies. In partnership with Total, SunPower is committed to the continued growth of our business in Chile.”
>>>>> 
>>>>> As for wind power, the metro will receive 18 percent of its energy needs from a 185-megawatt San Juan wind project developed by Spain-based Elecnor and owned by Brazilian renewable energy firm Latin America Power, according to Quartz.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Quartz noted that both solar and wind projects will start service in 2018 and supply the metro for the next 15 years. The metro will receive its remaining 40 percent of its energy needs from the Chilean electric distribution company Chilectra.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The Natural Resources Defense Council noted that the amount of energy generated by the wind and solar projects for the metro will be equivalent to the energy needs of 104,000 homes. Not only that, the impressive initiative is expected to mitigate 130,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
>>>>> 
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> 
>>>>> A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> -Greek proverb
>>>>> 
>>>>> “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.
>>>>> 
>>>>> --Immanuel Kant
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
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>>>>>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>>>>> =======================================================
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> =======================================================
>>>>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>>>>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>>>                http://www.fsr.net
>>>>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>>>> =======================================================
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> =======================================================
>>>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>>>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>>                http://www.fsr.net
>>>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>>> =======================================================
>> 
>> 
>> =======================================================
>>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>                http://www.fsr.net
>>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> =======================================================
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. 
> 
> -Greek proverb
> 
> “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.
> 
> --Immanuel Kant
> 
> 
> =======================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
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