Enercon has signed an exclusivity agreement with the Chilean utility Colbun to supply turbines totalling 607MW for the Horizonte wind farm.
The German manufacturer has an option to deliver 132 E-160 machines for the project, which will be located in the Atacama Desert in the north of the country.
Installation of the first turbines is slated for 2022, with the project scheduled to be fully operational in 2024.
Enercon said a layout with a total of 140 positions is under evaluation for the site.
The company will also modify the modular steel tower for the turbines because of local regulations relating to potential seismic activity in the region.
Horizonte will be located on the boundary between two tectonic plates, Enercon said.
Enercon sales manager in Chile and project coordinator Carla Tapia said: “The weather conditions in the desert are very special. For example, wind speed remains unchanged or even decreases with increasing hub height.”
Therefore, the company has determined that the optimum hub height is between 90 and 110 metres.
Analysis of the project site has additionally shown that there are only little ambient turbulences in the region, the company said.
“This means that the site has ideal wind conditions for the E-160, which with its large rotor diameter can achieve high outputs in low wind areas,” said Tapia.
Electricity from the project is expected to be supplied to companies active in the mining sector.
Enercon head of international sales Stefan Lutkemeyer said: “Chile, with its increasing energy demand and support for renewable energy, offers considerable potential for the expansion of wind energy.
“In addition, the country has locations – such as the area in the Atacama Desert – with particularly good wind conditions for Enercon’s low wind turbines.”
Enercon revealed the exclusivity agreement in the latest edition of the company’s Windblatt magazine.