<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Mr Crabtree-- the Heritage Foundation ranks Chile 7th in the world for economic freedom (2016). The US is ranked 11th.</div><div class="gmail_default" style=""><a href="http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking">http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking</a><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><font size="2">Ron Force<br>Moscow Idaho USA</font></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 8:11 PM, g crabtree <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:direoutcome@gmail.com" target="_blank">direoutcome@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">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) <div><br></div><div>g</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 12:43 PM, Nicholas Gier <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ngier006@gmail.com" target="_blank">ngier006@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><h1><font face="georgia, serif" size="2">Here is what Latin America' Best Socialist Government is Doing. nfg</font></h1><h1><font face="georgia, serif" size="2">Chile Producing So Much Solar Energy It’s Giving Electricity Away for Free</font></h1><div><div><font face="georgia, serif">By <a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/news/author/lorraine-chow/" target="_blank">Lorraine Chow</a></font></div><div><br></div><div><font face="georgia, serif"><a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/06/03/chile-producing-much-solar-energy-giving-electricity-away-free/" target="_blank">http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/06/03/chile-producing-much-solar-energy-giving-electricity-away-free/</a></font></div> </div></div><div><div><div style="text-align:center;border-bottom-color:rgb(221,221,221);border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid"><div><form name="m_1923657715623634877_m_2197118313364045464_mc-embedded-subscribe-form" action="http://nationofchange.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=d8c536d78fef3dd6b12305a66&id=f5500f52cf" method="post" target="_blank" onsubmit="try {return window.confirm("You are submitting information to an external page.\nAre you sure?");} catch (e) {return false;}"><div><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div></form></div></div></div><div><p><font face="georgia, serif">Thanks to Chile’s <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/31/santiago-metro-system-solar-wind/" target="_blank">major investments</a> in <a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank">renewables</a>, the Latin American country is seeing an incredible <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=solar" target="_blank">solar</a> boom.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">In a new Bloomberg <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-01/chile-has-so-much-solar-energy-it-s-giving-it-away-for-free" target="_blank">report</a>, <em>Chile Has So Much Solar Energy It’s Giving It Away for Free</em>, 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 <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-10/acciona-invests-343-million-in-247-megawatt-solar-farm-in-chile" target="_blank">under development</a>.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">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 <a href="http://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/01/enel-commissions-largest-pv-solar-project-chile/" target="_blank">Chile’s largest solar PV project</a> 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.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">With so much clean power available, the price of solar has cost absolutely nothing for certain regions in recent months. As Bloomberg stated:</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">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.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">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.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif"><a href="http://analysis.pv-insider.com/chiles-solar-boom-poses-new-integration-challenges-developers" target="_blank">PV Insider</a> 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.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">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.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">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.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">“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.”</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">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.</font></p><div><h1><font face="georgia, serif" size="2">Santiago’s Metro System to Become World’s First to Be Powered Largely by Solar and Wind</font></h1><div><font face="georgia, serif"><a href="https://ecowatch.com/2016/05/31/santiago-metro-system-solar-wind/" target="_blank">https://ecowatch.com/2016/05/31/santiago-metro-system-solar-wind/</a></font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif">The subway system in Chile’s capital will soon be the world’s first to run largely on <a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank">renewable energy</a> sources.<br></font></div></div><div><p><font face="georgia, serif">The <a href="http://www.metrosantiago.cl/" target="_blank">Metro de Santiago</a>, the second-longest metro system in Latin America after Mexico City, has signed two agreements, one with a <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=solar" target="_blank">solar</a> energy provider and another with a <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=solar" target="_blank">wind</a> power company, which will provide 60 percent of metro’s energy needs by 2018.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">An announcement of the <a href="http://www.energias-renovables.com/articulo/santiago-energia-renovable-para-el-ferrocarril-metropolitano-20160523" target="_blank">$500 million deal</a> was made last week by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet during a visit to the National Stadium station that’s currently under construction.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">“More than two and a half million passengers use the Metro daily,” she <a href="http://geographical.co.uk/places/cities/item/1707-santiago-transport-turning-renewable" target="_blank">said</a>. “[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.”</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">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.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">“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, <a href="http://newsroom.sunpower.com/2016-05-23-The-Worlds-First-Metro-to-Run-on-Solar-Energy-Powered-by-Total-and-SunPower" target="_blank">said</a>. “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.”</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">As for wind power, the metro will receive 18 percent of its energy needs from a 185-megawatt <a href="http://www.power-technology.com/news/newsvestas-to-deliver-wind-turbines-for-185mw-san-juan-project-in-chile-4611515" target="_blank">San Juan wind project</a> developed by Spain-based Elecnor and owned by Brazilian renewable energy firm Latin America Power, according to <a href="http://qz.com/691078/santiagos-subway-system-will-soon-be-powered-mostly-by-solar-and-wind-energy/" target="_blank">Quartz</a>.</font></p><div><p>
</p></div><p></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">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.</font></p><p><font face="georgia, serif">The <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/maria-martinez/latin-america-green-news-climate-change-threatens-cabo-pulmos-corals" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council noted</a> 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.</font></p></div></div></div><span><font color="#888888"><div><font face="georgia, serif">-- <br></font></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div> <div style="min-height:auto;width:auto"> <div> <div><div><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div></div></div></div></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><font size="2"><div><font face="georgia, serif">A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. <br><br>-Greek proverb</font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif"><br>
“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.<br>
<br>
--Immanuel Kant<br>
<br></font><br></div></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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