Commercial operation has begun on the Punta Sierra wind farm in Chile, which is Pacific Hydro's first wind farm in the country.

Operating in Chile since 2002, Pacific Hydro has run-of-river hydro power plants in the Cachapoal Valley, in Chile's Sixth Region, and water rights to develop up to 600 MW. It is also present in the Tinguiririca Valley through the Tinguiririca Energia joint venture, operating over 310 MW.

Pacific Hydro, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, was acquired by the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) through State Power Investment Overseas of China (SPIC Overseas) in January 2016, after obtaining Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval.

SPIC is one of the top five power generation groups in China, with US$113 billion total assets and a total installed capacity that exceeds 100 GW. SPIC operates in the generation, coal, aluminum, logistics, finance, environmental protection and high technology industries. SPIC has a presence in 36 countries and regions abroad, including Australia, Chile, Malta, Japan, Brazil, Turkey and Vietnam.

SPIC has so far invested around US$2 billion in Chile, and is the largest private Chinese investor there.

The Punta Sierra wind farm is situated in Ovalle, 320 kilometres north of the capital Santiago, and is one of 34 clean-energy projects in different stages of development in the Coquimbo region. It comprises 32 Goldwind 2.5MW turbines.

Coquimbo accounts for 70% of Chile's installed wind energy capacity. The wind farm will feed approximately 255 GWh/year into Chile's national grid.

In 2015, Chile adopted its National Energy Policy 2050, and it has quickly evolved into an important market for solar and wind energy developers.

The Punta Sierra wind farm is "diversifying the grid and making it much cleaner and sustainable", Energy Minister, Susana Jimenez, said at the opening ceremony last week, where she was joined by China's SPIC and Chilean government officials.

China is heavily involved in the Chilean electricity sector. In March, China Southern Power Grid acquired a 27.8% stake in the country's largest power transmission company, Transelec.

The stake was sold by Canadian alternative asset manager Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP).