- ACCIONA will supply clean energy to salt production and retail group K+S for its operations in Chile. The company has facilities in the Tarapacá, Biobío, Valparaíso and Los Lagos regions
- With this renewable supply, K+S will avoid the emission of 6,400 tonnes of CO2 per year into the atmosphere
Starting in April this year, Germany-headquartered Chilean company K+S, the country's leading salt producer and retailer, will begin supplying its facilities in Chile with renewable energy provided by ACCIONA, after both companies recently signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
ACCIONA will supply renewable energy to K+S' operations in the country’s Tarapacá Region, which include a salt extraction mine and as well as grinding and sorting plants in the Salar Grande area, located 90Km from Iquique; in addition to two salt shipping ports in bulk and a packaging plant located in Patillos. The contract also includes other processing and packaging plant facilities located in the cities of Talcahuano, in the Biobío region; San Antonio, in the Valparaiso region; and Puerto Montt, in the Los Lagos region.
This electricity supply will enable K+S to avoid the annual emission of approximately 6,400 tonnes of CO2 equivalent from coal-fired power stations, the main cause of global warming and climate change.
'We are very happy that K+S has chosen to rely on ACCIONA for the supply of 100% renewable energy to its operations in Chile. We are convinced that agreements of this nature will help the Chilean economy to decisively move forward in its decarbonization process', said José Ignacio Escobar, General Director of Energy for South America at ACCIONA.
'With this agreement, we are taking an important step towards improving the long-term sustainability of our operations in Latin America. By operating our production plants throughout the country with electricity from renewable and environmentally friendly sources, we are promoting one of our company's core values', says Walther Meyer, K+S’ Chief Operating Officer for Latin America.
The entirety of the electricity that ACCIONA will provide through the PPA will come from the company’s renewable energy plants in the country, where it has 536MW of capacity in operation and 148MW under construction (Tolpán Sur wind farm and the Usya photovoltaic plant).
This contract with K+S is the seventh energy supply contract that the company has signed in Chile. This way, K+S joins the list of other relevant corporate clients of ACCIONA in the country, such as tech firm Google, distribution chain Falabella, Aguas Chañar, LATAM Airlines Group, Mining group Empresa Nacional de Minería de Chile (ENAMI) and water company ECONSSA.
ACCIONA also signed supply contracts with all of the country's distributors and cooperatives as a result of the energy tender processes for regulated customer consumption called 'Licitación 2013/03 2°llamado” (“Tender 2013/03 2nd call') and “Licitación 2015/01”(“Tender 2015/01”).