Photovoltaic panels to generate electricity
The Uruguayan government is to open the country’s first photovoltaic solar power plant this Friday, located in the Salto Grande park.
The plant is owned by the National Department of Energy (DNE), and is to be operated and maintained under a lease to UTE for the next ten years.
15 workers have received training in solar power and are expected to be employed at the plant, which is connected to the national power grid, and its 2240 panels will generate a peak output of 486.1 kilowatts.
National energy director Ramón Méndez told the official presidential communications service that the opening of the Salto solar plant is a new step on the way to transforming Uruguay’s energy infrastructure, a program that will increase the country’s energy independence, cut costs, and reduce reliance on climatic conditions. “We are putting our trust in our own national energy sources. First of all we have a combination of renewable energy sources; in parallel, we are searching for our own traditional energy resources, such as gas and oil”, he said.
Méndez explained that the Japanese government donated US$ 7 million for the installation of this first plant.
Investment in the project has amounted to US$ 4 million, and the remaining $ 3 million will be put towards building a second plant in Minas.
Meanwhile, UTE chairman Gonzalo Casaravilla stated that the energy generated at the plant will be enough to supply 200 families. This innovation will also help to cut water usage at the nearby hydroelectric dam or traditional power plant activity during daylight hours.
Casaravilla said that photovoltaic power will play a key role in the future due to its highly competitive costs, and that it will be employed alongside wind power to complement the autonomous and renewable electricity production matrix that will make up the energy system for 2015. He went on to explain that the energy matrix is expected to comprise 30% wind power, 45% hydroelectricity, 15% biomass generation, and 10% traditional thermoelectric power.
“However, during periods of low rainfall hydroelectric output will drop, and the balance will be made up with thermoelectric power with the regasification plant», he concluded.
