Colbún, the electrical arm of the Matte group, has an investment plan for US$ 2.5 billion for the next five years in projects such as the expansion of the Horizonte solar park, the Paposo pumping station and the Solar Cell Batteries project in Arica.
But also, In Peru – where it has 400 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity – they seek to reach 800 MW and for this they are looking at different projects, explained the general manager of Colbún, José Ignacio Escobar. “We are also seeing other geographies, beyond Chile and Peru, in the Americas”, he assured.
“We believe that we have strengths and a business model that we can deploy in other latitudes, which is based on three pillars: that our energy offer is as sustainable as possible, that it can reach up to 100% certified renewable, and that it is a safe and competitive offer.”
“The greatest growth is in the north. And if large industrial projects appear in south-central Chile, we would also be happy to make them an offer of our services.”
The Matte electric company is experiencing a good moment hand in hand with the mining industry. In fact, Colbún had an important presence at Exponor.
This is explained, explained the CEO of the company, because there is a strong commitment to the industrial sector or free clients. Thus, 95% of the clients of the Matte group’s electricity company are industrial users and a good part of them are mining companies.
Escobar highlighted that “being a smaller company worldwide compared to our peers, we believe that the added value of our offer can somehow be made more tangible in the free clients, with whom you have the possibility of offering, for For example, additional services.
Around the 30% of mining electricity consumption by 2026 will be provided by Colbúna sector that would represent 70% of the energy company’s client portfolio, said the firm’s top executive.
He explained that this clear commitment to the mining sector was increasing due to the process of renewal of contracts to replace fossil sources with green energy. Added to this is that “the most important growth in electricity demand has been from the mining sector, whether in expansion of operations, new projects, etc.,” Escobar said.
“We are capable of supplying energy from Arica, with the solar cell project that was approved for us, to Puerto Montt. But what we have seen is that the greatest growth is in the north of Chile, and if large industrial projects evidently appeared in the central-southern of Chile, we would also be happy to make them an offer of our services,” said the CEO of Colbún. .
Controversy with Enel: “It is a closed chapter”
On May 16, Escobar was the protagonist of a controversy on social networks when he directly questioned the general manager of Enel Distribución, Víctor Tavera, about the successive supply cuts that have affected him and his neighbors in the commune of Las Condes. Not only did he describe in detail the impact that the service interruptions had on him and his neighbors, but through the social network X he said: “I will not rest until their concession runs out.”
In it stand of Colbún in Exponor, José Ignacio Escobar referred to the impasse. “That issue is now completely closed.”. For us it is a closed chapter; We must always look forward, towards the future. There is a lot to do in the energy transition, there is a lot to do in this mining challenge, in exposing mining 3.0, and there is a lot to do in customer service, where we care about working hand in hand with our industrial clients in being able to help them. them also to their own transition. So we are very excited here, about what is happening in the north of Chile.”
