Chile and Norway are two countries renowned for their extreme climates, mountainous landscapes and resource exports. A research firm, Zhar Research, believes Chile has the potential to emulate Norway and create a trillion-dollar national wealth fund.
In order to achieve this, Chile must ensure political stability and choose sensible decision making. Fortunately, Chile is the most stable country in South America and can use immigration to its advantage.
The country is the world’s largest exporter of copper, a crucial component for electrification, and exports 30% of the lithium carbonate for batteries. It is also 20% hydroelectric and is installing solar panels and concentrated solar generators in Atacama to produce electricity. Nine projects combining solar and wind with energy storage have recently been submitted, totalling over 2GWh of capacity and 1.7 billion dollars.
Chile is buying back its lithium, but is also making use of battery-less technologies that can store delayed electricity for up to a month. This includes Highview Enlasa’s liquid air long-duration energy storage project, which is the world’s largest and costs 150 million dollars. Pumped hydro storage and Hydrostor’s compressed air storage are also being considered.
The UK is running a cable from the desert of Africa to obtain solar power and a similar length of cable to take Atacama electricity to the south of Chile. However, Chile is also looking into solar and solar/wind microgrids to provide power to isolated communities, farms and mines. This calls for Long Duration Energy Storage systems that can provide electricity from 6 hours to seasonal duration.
Chile is also looking to reduce imports, notably of crude and refined oil, coal, gas and lubricants. To do this it must invest in modernising transport infrastructure, adopting cost-saving railway technology and battery trains. Norway can serve as an example, as it has the world’s longest road tunnel, the largest adoption of battery electric road vehicles and is set to have entirely electric coastal shipping and regional aircraft.
Finally, Chile must address its severe water problem. This can be done through water saving methods such as saline farming, aquaponics, hydroponics, hydrogels and agrivoltaics. Solar desalination, canals, water pipes and greenhouses can also be used to source water.
CEO of Zhar Research, Dr Peter Harrop, commented: “For water supply, Chile must consider solar desalination on the grand scale. It must check out canals even across deserts that are covered with solar panels reducing evaporation as seen in the Arabian Gulf and India. It must evaluate 600km water pipes from the mountains like Los Angeles.”
Zhar Research reports on Long Duration Energy Storage, Battery-Free Electrical Energy Storage and Storage Elimination, and Hydrogels can be found on their website, www.zharresearch.com.
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.