Viento Azul Biobio - offshore wind in Chile
Magenta Renewables supports the Chilean offshore wind sector via the Viento Azul Biobio project, being developed by 17 Energy and SC Power.
The project
Viento Azul Biobio is a development-stage commercial scale floating offshore wind project in the central Biobio region of Chile. It will be one of the first offshore wind projects in the country, seeking to strengthen and diversify the Chilean power network and bring new investment and opportunities to this major industrial hub.
The challenge
Before 2023, offshore wind was not on the national agenda. In the years since, the Chilean offshore wind sector has undergone a period of rapid maturation in both ambition and capability.
17 Energy and SC Power have been at the heart of efforts to build the evidence and narrative backing the case. Magenta Renewables has been supporting 17 Energy since the outset, bringing offshore wind experience and relationships from advanced markets (such as the UK) and applying them to the Chilean system, helping to shape the political and regulatory platform to make the sector a success.
Magenta Renewables scope
Site-finding: down-selected from multiple sites in Chile, considering technical, environmental and commercial constraints.
Stakeholder engagement: sustained deep engagement of key government, private sector and community stakeholders.
Supply chain strategy:developed for the execution of a commercial scale floating offshore wind project.
Maritime concession: prepared and managed submissions.
Partnership structuring: identified, engaged and administered strategic partnerships with local entities.
Marketing, branding and media: created a marketing and communications package.
Outcomes
There is now solid traction for offshore wind in the public, private and academic sectors, with a much deeper understanding of how the specific attributes of Chile present unique opportunities for offshore wind deployment. In Biobio at the local level (where the first offshore wind cluster is emerging), there is an increasing support in view of the opportunities for local participation and benefit (a pressing topic following the closure of the Huachipato steel refinery).
