POWER October 2020 - 12

GLOBAL MONITOR
costs than that provided by a reliance on
fossil fuels for power generation.
Barajas also highlighted Chile, which
2. Eduardo Kopper, president of Sunshine Energy Corp., discusses the company's deal with
CleanSpark to use CleanSpark's software in its energy development projects. Courtesy: Sunshine
Energy Corp.
the grid stability and renewables space,
and we're going to continue to grow in
those areas. "
Dino Barajas, a partner with law firm
DLA Piper who focuses on infrastructure
projects in Latin America, told POWER
that investors have looked at the region
as an area ripe for putting money into
renewable energy. Countries there have
set a collective target of 70% renewable
energy use by 2030, more than double
what the European Union is planning,
according to Maria Fernanda Suarez, Colombia's
energy minister, who outlined
the region's plan late last year.
" I think everyone has been affected
in one way, shape, or form, in a number
of ways, " said Barajas of the impacts
of COVID-19. He said development of
energy projects is " also going to be an
opportunity for the power sector to recover
in some jurisdictions. Renewable
energy projects are the quickest to be
executed, and can be done on a modular
basis. Whereas a fossil fuel project
will take the entire supply chain to be
implemented, such as having natural gas
available in the market, then supplied to
a plant via a pipeline, and then just getting
the construction done for any largescale
power plant. A solar project can be
done quickly, with a minimal footprint, a
smaller environmental footprint. "
CleanSpark, a Utah-based microgrid
software developer, continues to be active
in the region. The company in early
September announced the successful
deployment of the company's mPulse
software on its latest microgrid project
in Costa Rica, at an industrial equipment
retail facility in San Jose. The microgrid
consists of a 222-kW photovoltaic solar
12
system, and a Tesla 111-kW/223-kWh
Powerpack, one of the first Tesla battery
systems deployed in the country. The
system is integrated with standby diesel
generation for use in the event of a sustained
power disruption.
" Over the last four years, Costa Rica
has generated more than 95% of its
domestic electricity from renewable energy, "
said Matt Schultz, CleanSpark's
chairman. " In 2018, nearly 75% of all
national renewables came from hydropower.
Recent drought conditions
have threatened the consistency of
that supply, and the country has been
more reliant on wind production. This
CleanSpark-powered system utilizes proprietary
forecasting, driven, not only by
the end-user's energy consumption behaviors
and utility rates, but a multitude
of other factors, including forecasted
weather patterns. " CleanSpark in August
announced a strategic alliance with Costa
Rica's Sunshine Energy Corp. (Figure
2), where the Costa Rican company will
have the exclusive use of the Microgrid
Value Stream Optimizer license, a software
for energy models.
Barajas cited Costa Rica as one of the
" countries that are poised to bounce
back the quickest " from the pandemic,
because it has " a long-term policy promoting
renewable energy development, "
and has a goal to produce 100% of its
power from renewable resources. " The
positive thing is, with a large part of your
generation
portfolio
being renewable,
you are energy independent, and at the
end of the day it is critical for these economies
that are driven by manufacturing, "
he said. Barajas said the manufacturing
sector needs more certainty in energy
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for years relied on imports of coal to
support the country's coal-fired power
plants. But the country last year reached
a deal with energy companies to retire
its entire 5,000 MW of coal-fired generation
by 2040, including 1,000 MW by
year-end 2024, and said it would support
more generation from renewable resources.
Chilean officials cited community
pressure and environmental concerns
for the transition; the government's energy
minister, Juan Carlos Jobet, late last
year told an international climate conference
in Madrid, Spain, that almost 3,500
MW of renewable energy projects are
being developed in Chile.
" Chile is a case in point, " Barajas said,
citing the country's need to import coal,
which increases costs. He said transport
costs highlight the issue of, " If you can't
get the resource to where you actually
need to utilize it for power generation. It's
like the box you can't open with the treasure
inside. With renewable energy, you
can site it closer to where the demand
is, it's highly flexible from the development
point of view, especially solar. "
Zach Bradford, CEO of CleanSpark,
said the Costa Rica project " represents
the second project and first large-scale
deployment of our mPulse software and
controls in Costa Rica. As part of our
plans to expand internationally we have
identified significant opportunities in
Latin America. Costa Rica and Mexico
are the first countries we are targeting,
with plans to expand to the Brazilian and
Panama market in 2021. "
Barajas
said
those
even
types of projects- " C&I
[commercial and industrial]
development,
large-scale
utility
projects " -will drive the investment in
power generation across the region,
even during the period of lower energy
demand due to the pandemic. " You can
build to suit the existing demand today,
and then as demand grows, add on to
the existing facility. Grow into your power
supply, " he said.
" I think it will provide an opportunity
for governments to jump-start their
economies. As the pandemic has lessened
the demand for power in some jurisdictions
it also has given a pause for
those areas. With the downturn in the
economy, it allowed for greater reserve
margins throughout the country. It lowered
the need for new power generation
projects to be brought online to meet
existing demand. When activity comes
POWER | October 2020

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POWER October 2020

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