Chile's Codelco invites tenders to buy 2.5 TWh of renewables per year

Chilean state-owned copper miner Codelco said on Friday it had launched a call for tenders to invite domestic and foreign companies to supply around 2,500 GWh of renewable power annually for its operations.

The company is seeking to diversify its portfolio of renewable energy suppliers and encourage the development of the renewables industry, Codelco’s executive president Andre Sougarret said in a prepared statement.

Bidders can offer electricity from non-conventional sources, such as solar, wind and small hydro, but also from conventional renewables, a label associated with large-scale hydroelectric plants, Codelco said in the invitation. The supply period will begin on January 1, 2026 and finalise on December 31, 2040.

Renewables contracted in this procurement will power Codelco’s existing operations in central and northern parts of Chile, or could be used to satisfy other electricity needs of the company or its contractors, the miner said.

Companies interested in participating can send an email to Codelco by no later than February 10, 2023, to express their interest. After that, they will begin a pre-qualification process. Specific terms of the tendering procedure will be available only to companies that pre-qualify to move to the next stage.

Codelco’s green targets include cutting CO2 emissions by 70% and achieving a 100% clean power mix by 2030. The company has been gradually eliminating coal-based electricity from its supply since 2018 by renegotiating contracts with its providers. The latest of these contracts was announced last week, with Chilean utility AES Andes committing to supply up to 1.6 TWh of renewable power to two of Codelco’s mining sites.

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