Solar energy assessment using the model BRASIL-SR adapted for Chile

What is it about?

Renewable Energy promotion in Chile has obtained institutional support by means of a law that mandates a renewable energy quota of up to 10% of the electrical energy generated, which must be met by 2024, with public announcements already being made that would modify this goal in order to achieve 20% of power generation by 2020 from renewable energy. This plan has sparked interest in introducing renewable energy systems to the country´s electricity system. Solar energy is currently at the initial stages of market penetration, with several projects being announced including PV, CSP, and industrial heat supply plants. However, strong barriers still exists due to the absence of a valid solar energy database, adequate for energy system simulation and planning activities. Previous reports by the authors in both the Johannesburg 2009 SWC and Renewable Energy Journal (Ortega et al, 2009 and 2010) identified several databases of solar radiation which are available for Chile and discussed their merits and shortcomings. It has been found that significant deviation exists between sources, and that all ground station measurements display unknown uncertainty levels, thus highlighting the need for a proper, country-wide long-term resource assessment initiative. However, the solar energy levels throughout the country can be considered as high, and it is thought that they are adequate for energy planning activities –although not yet for proper power plant design and dimensioning. As a general conclusion, the previous work by the authors demonstrated that although for Chile there are several databases of ground measurements, a weather simulation model, and satellite-derived data, none of these data sources are completely valid and therefore a nationwide effort of resource assessment was needed.

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