Chile’s environment regulator approved MPX Energia SA’s USD 4.4 billion coal fired power station project in northern Chile as the South American country seeks to overcome power shortages.

MPX, controlled by billionaire Eike Batista, plans to build the largest power station in Chile.

The power station, Castilla, will be built on the Pacific Coast 700 kilometers (435 miles) north of Santiago and provide 2,100 megawatts of energy to Chile’s central power grid. Chile’s government earlier this year lowered grid voltages to avoid rationing as a drought sapped the country’s hydroelectric power generation capacity.

MPX said that “Chile needs energy to grow and Castilla will be, without doubt, a structural development for the country in the next decade.”

(Sourced from Bloomberg)