Skip to main content

Santiago Metro to run on solar energy

Total and its affiliate, solar energy technology company SunPower have signed an agreement with the Metro of Santiago, Chile, for the supply of 300 gigawatt hours per year of clean solar energy. They say that the agreement makes the metro, which carries 2.2 million passengers a day, the first public transportation system in the world to run mostly on solar energy. According to Eduardo Medina, executive vice president, global power plants, SunPower, solar power is an ideal energy source for Chile because
May 25, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Total and its affiliate, solar energy technology company SunPower have signed an agreement with the Metro of Santiago, Chile, for the supply of 300 gigawatt hours per year of clean solar energy. They say that the agreement makes the metro, which carries 2.2 million passengers a day, the first public transportation system in the world to run mostly on solar energy.

According to Eduardo Medina, executive vice president, global power plants, SunPower, solar power is an ideal energy source for Chile because of the country's high solar resource and transparent energy policies.

SunPower will build the El Pelícano Solar Project, a 100-megawatt (AC) project near the municipalities of La Higuera (Coquimbo Region) and Vallenar (Atacama Region) and provide operations and maintenance once it is operational. Construction of the solar power plant will begin this year, with expected operation by the end of 2017.

"We are proud to partner with Metro in developing a new way of powering public transportation systems through competitive, reliable and clean energy," says Bernard Clément, senior vice president of Business & Operations of the New Energies division of Total.

Related Content

  • December 8, 2021
    Egis speeds up Tel Aviv metro
    Partners will assist NTA with scope of work and procurement 
  • March 14, 2023
    Watch your step: the sidewalk robots are here
    The way we order and pay for goods has changed radically – but what about how those goods are delivered? Gordon Feller looks at how sidewalk robots might reshape the urban landscape
  • July 4, 2012
    Meeting the challenges of smartcard fare payment
    David Crawford monitors a growing trend in contactless smartcard ticketing The north east United States has become a hive of activity in the smart fare payment arena. In October 2011, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) published, as a preliminary to an imminent procurement process, the detailed concept of its New Fare Payment System (NFPS). Based on open payment industry standards, this is designed to be implemented on all MTA bus and subway services operated by New York City Transit (
  • February 1, 2012
    Michigan infrastructure vision
    An innovative infrastructure project proposed by The Interstate Traveler Company (ITC) has won strong backing from the Michigan House of Representatives Task Force, as well as being awarded a Michigan's Going Green Award.