Chilean mining companies are looking to renegotiate energy contracts to include cheaper renewable power, Reuters reports. Chile’s shift towards alternative energy is clearly visible amid increased use and continuously falling costs of renewables.
“Industrial customers are reviewing their contracts, they are anticipating tenders, they are trying to seize the moment and take advantage of this buyer’s market,” Juan Francisco MacKenna, one of Chile’s leading energy project and regulation lawyers, tells Reuters.
Wind and solar companies have been successfully submitting competitive bids for power contracts in Chile. For example, in the latest 12.3 terawatt government auction in August, half of the tendered energy was awarded to renewables to supply Chile’s public grid from the 2020s.
Miners are especially interested in these offers, as some of them pay over $100 per megawatt-hour, while wind can offer power for as low as $38 on Chile’s public grid. Mining giants such as Codelco, Antofagasta are already looking into revising their energy contracts, Reuters cites sources as saying.
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