About Chile

CHILE REPORTTraining Course on Biogas Technology for Developing Countries in 2015

by Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture (BIOMA)

By Cristián Sánchez

About Chile

LOCATION AND TERRITORY.

Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also has 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica.

About Chile

CHILE IN FIGURES

Summary statistics    

Region South America

Surface area (square kilometres) 756102

Population 17,465,000 2012

Official language Spanish

Demonym Chilean

Capital city Santiago

Population of capital city 6,034,000 2011

Religion66% Catholic, 17% evangelical church 2012

Currency Chilean Peso (CLP)

Social indicators    Urban population (%) 89.6 2013Sex ratio (males per 100 females) 97.9 2013Life expectancy at birth (females and males, years) 82.6/77.0 2010-2015Education: Primary-secondary gross enrolment ratio (f/m per 100) 95.3/95.5 2006-2012

Economic indicators    GNI: Gross national income per capita (current US$) 14637.7 2012Exchange rates (national currency per US$) 670 2012Individuals using the Internet (%) 61.4 2012

About Chile

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

Chile is divided into 15 regions (I to XV).

The government of Chile is a representative democratic republic, governed by a president and National Congress consists of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

Michelle Bachelet

About Chile

GEOGRAPHY

The geography of Chile can be classified into three large areas:

1. In the north of Chile is Atacama Desert, the aridest place on Earth, contains great mineral wealth, primarily copper.

Desert of Atacama

2. In the central area there are valleys, and dominates the country in terms of population and agricultural resources.

About Chile

GEOGRAPHY

3. The south Chile is rich in forests, volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, canals, peninsulas, and islands.

Conguillío National Park

A glacier at the Beagle Channel

Osorno Volcano

San Rafael lagoon

About Chile

FLORA

In the northern desert region, vegetation consists of a spiny acacia tree, varieties of cacti as well as shrubs and spiny brambles.

The semiarid region of central Chile, cacti, espino and algarrobo hardwood, and Adesmia shrubs are the notable flora. In the humid and temperate region of central Chile, vegetation is defined by the term matorral.

Copihue (Chilean bellflower),national flower.

Llareta

Espino

About Chile

FLORA

In the south, mixed forest and trees are the common vegetation types. More to the south, the dominant vegetation consists of Antarctic beech, the Chilean cedar, and the giant alerce (this tree in southern Chile is 3000 years old and is the "second largest living organism in the world").

Araucaria

Giant alerce

Rauli

About Chile

FAUNA

Some of the mammal species noted are: guanacos (a form of the wild llama), culpeo (fox) y flamingos (pink coloured in altiplano salt pans).

Some of species reported from Southern Chile are pudú (world's smallest deer), Taruca or North Andean huemul, national animal, and Patagonian puma also called as mountain lion or cougar is found throughout Chile.

Guanaco Culpeo Fox

Pudú

Patagonian puma

North Andean huemul

About Chile

FAUNA

The national bird of Chile is Andean condor, which is in the coat of arms.

About Chile

TOURISM

The main attractions for tourists are places of natural beauty situated in the extreme zones of the country: San Pedro de Atacama, in the north, the Torres del Paine National Park, in the south end, and finally, Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.

Moai on Easter Island

Torres del Paine National Park San Pedro de Atacama

About Chile

IMPORTANT PEOPLE

Pablo NerudaNobel Prize for literature in 1971

Gabriela MistralNobel Prize for literature in 1945

Electric energy

ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS IN CHILE

There are four separate electricity systems in Chile:

The Central Interconnected System (SIC, Sistema Interconectado Central), which serves the central part of the country (93% of the population).

The Norte Grande Interconnected System (SING Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande), which serves the desert mining regions in the North.

The Electric system of Aysén (SEA) and Electric system of Magallanes (SEM), which serve small areas of the extreme southern part of the country.

Electric energy

INSTALLED CAPACITY

Type of energy Installed capacity, %Thermal 60Hydroelectric 31Renewable energy 9

Electric energy

ELECTRICAL GENERATION

Type of energy Electrical generation, %

SIC SING TotalThermal 53 96 64Hydroelectric 33 0 25Renewable energy 14 4 11Total 100 100 100

Electric energy

PROJECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION, SING

Type of energyProjects under construction

MW %Coal 847 36Natural gas 517 22Photovoltaic solar, 880 37Concentrating solar power 110 5Total 2354 100

Until June 15, there are a total of 26 power generation projects under construction. Altogether reach an electrical capacity of 2354 MW, which have estimated date of entry into operation during June 2015 and June 2018.

Electric energy

PROJECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION, SIC

In the SIC, until June 15, there are a total of 35 power generation projects under construction. Altogether reach an electrical capacity of 2831 MW, which have estimated date of entry into operation during June 2015 and July 2020.

Type of energyProjects under construction

MW %Coal 139 5Natural gas 306 11Diesel 199 7Wind power 112 4Photovoltaic solar 960 34Hydroelectric (pass) 1115 39Total 2831 100

Electric energy

PROJECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION, TOTAL

There are a total of 61 power generation projects under construction. Altogether reach an electrical capacity of 5185 MW.

Electric energy

Chile in 2014 to increase the use of renewable energies, which came to contribute a 10.9% power to the SIC, significantly outpacing the 7.3% reached in 2013.

During last year, the most productive segment of renewable energy was the biomass, followed by the hydro, wind power and finally solar.

In 2010 was promulgated the law of promotion of the renewable energies, which establishes that in the year 2025, 20% of the electrical matriz will be covered by RE.

Electric energy

Gobierno de Chile | Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The policy of the country is to grow with energy efficiency. In Chile there is a government agency for energy efficiency, Chilean Agency for Energy Efficiency (AChEE).

Labelling of electrical products

From December 2015, in Chile will be prohibited the sale of incandescent light bulb. They will be replaced in an absolute way by light bulb of low energy.

Biogas

PROJECTS OF BIOGAS

In Chile until the year 2013 there are a total of 62 biogas projects.

Small Facilities: are facilities that are running through mechanisms of promotion of the state.

Medium-sized facilities: in most cases are to increase the efficiency of the activity, some of these burn part of the biogas in artorchas.

Large Installations: have been developed as energy projects or environmental, with foreign technology.

At present there is still no regulations for the design and construction of biogas installations (small, medium and large), so that in the past two years the government has been working on a standard for these facilities, which is in its final stage.

Biogas

Biogas

Biogas

SMALL INSTALLATIONS

MEDIUM INSTALLATIONS

LARGE INSTALLATIONS

LARGE INSTALLATIONS

LARGE INSTALLATIONS