Over the last few years Chile has had a high growth in the construction of non-conventional renewable energy generating plants (NCRE), thanks to the country’s bounty of nature (great solar generation in the north, and strong winds in the south).

This peak is reflected in the latest report "Climatescope 2021", which presents the ranking of the most attractive countries in the investment of clean energy, and where Chile is acknowledged as the best country in America to invest in NCRE, in addition to more information that supports this position in the region.

However, and despite of the great contribution made to the country by this type of company, clean energy power plants do not escape the generation of industrial waste (hazardous and non-hazardous) during their construction and operation stage, as demanded by their industrial processes. The question is then, how do they act in a sustainable way with the environment?

In order for this type of company to be enabled to operate, they must present a Waste Management Treatment Plan, defining among other details, in what way they will carry this out. In this case, they generally go to companies that are experts in this type of service in order to ensure responsible behavior and in accordance with the requirements of the law.

In this sense, we at Hidronor have positioned ourselves as a strategic environmental partner for the main clean energy generators such as Mainstream, Engie, Enel, Cerro Dominador, among others, standing out as one of the companies with the highest capacity of service at a national level.

“The main challenges in waste management for NCRE projects are related to the support given in remote places with difficult access, little communication and changing needs and this is where we play a fundamental role for our clients because we have been able to fully meet with the different requirements in different areas of the country. We are currently the only waste management company that has installed capability from Arica to Punta Arenas, which expands our capacity of response towards this type of company” points out Luis Briones, Business Development Engineer at Hidronor.

To obtain full benefit of the waste, we also revalue a few like the residual oils generated by these plants to produce alternative fuel that is subsequently used by other industries (for example cement factories), in addition to used batteries, which can be utilized to manufacture new units, or their materials can be used as raw material for other processes, reinserting them therefore into the production and consumption chain which contributes to the circular economy. Likewise, we also offer the possibility of conducting the process of industrial washing of the containers used in the procedures so these can be reused up to six times before being disposed of safely, with which we contribute to the reduction of the material that finally ends up in deposits. of security.