Chilean fruit farms harvest the sun for water

Monday, February 20, 2012

Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the driest regions on earth and one of the best locations for sunshine, might become a great place to raise fruit using solar energy to drive its irrigation systems.

Subsole, a large locally owned fruit exporting company, secured a $32 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank to increase output by 60 per cent over four years and by expanding farming in the Copiaoo valley, 800 kilometres north of Santiago. Subsole is building a 300-kilowatt peak solar photovoltaic plant to pump water from underground aquifers. The plant will also run cooling plants.

According to a news release from the lender, Subsole shares its profits with workers. This project will create another 10,000 direct and indirect jobs and boost its exports by 42 per cent in the next three years. Over the past decade, Subsole has increased table fruit exports by an average of 20 per cent per year. BF