A tour “to confirm Enel’s investment plan in Chile, through Endesa and its
controlled company Enersis, and to affirm our position as a key player in the
energy challenge that is taking place in this country”. The latter was stated
by Fulvio Conti, CEO and General Manager of Enel, to the Chilean newspaper El
Mercurio explaining the reason why he visited Santiago de Chile.
The capital of Chile – where the CEO also participated in the business review
held at Enel Green Power Latin America’s offices – was Conti’s first stopover
during his broader Latin American visit that also included Peru, where he met
President Alan Garcia Pérez and the Minister of Energy, Pedro Sanchez. Enel’s
presence in the continent, said Conti, is “part of our geographic and
technological diversification strategy, and for this reason I felt it was
necessary to come and take a close look ” at the activities of the Group,
adding that he felt “very satisfied”.
A major issue on the agenda during his stay in Santiago, from May 3 to 5, was
HidroAysén. The project, developed in Patagonia, includes the construction of
five hydroelectric plants with a capacity of 2 750 MW, harnessing energy from
the Pascua River and the Baker River. Enel, together with Endesa Chile and the
local company Colbún, will invest 3.2 billion dollars and plans to start
construction by 2012.
Conti discussed the project with Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and Energy
Minister Ricardo Raineri. He told El Mercurio that he felt “very optimistic”,
since he hoped that his visit to Chile “will be key to confirm our commitment
to this project”.
The CEO reaffirmed that HidroAysén “adds a value that is not only economic, but
also social” and “allows an affordable use of one of this country’s natural
resources, encouraging development and creating jobs”.
According to Conti, speeding up the project’s approval is an important issue,
as relevant as the matter concerning how to communicate the benefits it brings
to Chile. “The capacity of the HidroAysén project can solve the long term
energy deficit of this country,” he explained.
In response to fears regarding the impact that the project will produce on the
region, Fulvio Conti underlined that Enel is ready to “respond to any comment
that could be made on the project”, so that to all interested parties will
“become aware that our objective regarding this project is to add value to
Chile’s water resources, without withdrawing even a drop of what must be used
for farming and drinking.”
