Located 58km north of the city of Copiapó, Chile, the solar project is expected to become the largest solar plant in Latin America upon completion, which is scheduled in December 2015.
Chile President Bachelet said: "This year alone, we are incorporating more than 1000 MW of new energy to our system through different non-conventional renewable energies.
"This is an important step towards our 2025 target of having 20 percent of our energy coming from non-conventional renewable energies."
Chile Energy Minister Maximo Pacheco said: "Northern Chile is one of the places with the highest solar radiation in the world, and therefore is the place to develop alternative renewable energy projects such as First Solar’s here in the Atacama region.
"We are confident what with the implementation of this technology, we will achieve the goal set in our Energy Agenda that, by 2025, 20 percent of the country’s energy will come from such sources."
The Luz del Norte project will sell electricity on an open contract basis in order to directly benefit the end consumer, since its generation needs low variable costs, which may reduce the electricity system’s total cost of electricity.
The project will produce electricity to over 173,962 homes while reducing over 185,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually as well as provide up to 370 construction jobs.
Copiapó Mayor Maglio Ciardini said: "Luz del Norte will help provide clean energy to the central grid."
