Chilean Regulators OK Pumped Hydro Plant in Andes

Chilean energy company Valhalla plans to build a hydroelectric power plant in the world's most arid desert—the Atacama—in an attempt to generate green energy. The company plans to use solar power to pump water from the Pacific Ocean into two reservoirs located 600 meters above sea level in the Andes Mountains. Then it will be allowed to flow back down into a hydroelectric plant with a generating capacity of 300 megawatts (MW). The project takes advantage of the unique geographic characteristics

The two mountaintop reservoirs would cover 375 hectares, insulated from the ground with an impermeable membrane, and hold as much water as approximately 22,000 Olympic swimming pools. A proposed 1,650-hectare photovoltaic solar plant would generate 600 MW, making it among the largest such plants in the world. "This is the only place in the world where a project of this kind can be developed," says Francisco Torrealba, the company's strategy manager.

Valhalla has received regulatory approval from Chilean authorities to build the $400-million hydroelectric power plant. However, it has not yet received the go-ahead for the solar plant that would pump the water into the reservoirs. And financing has not been lined up for either part of the project. Valhalla says it hopes to break ground on the hydroelectric plant in late 2016, with an estimated construction timeline of three and a half years.