What concrete benefits will the implementation of this project have for the Aysén Region?

Energía Austral is a company that is committed to the sustainable development of the Aysén Region. We make a distinction between the project’s general benefits, which are common to any infrastructure project, and those benefits that are unique to Energía Austral and are the result of its commitment to the community.

Benefits of the development of Energía Austral for the Region

• We create job opportunities. At its construction peak, Energía Austral will require an estimated 4,000 workers of whom between 600 and 800 will be hired from the Aysén Region.
• We boost economic activity in the Region and generate a pole of long-term development. We do so directly by acquiring services needed for the project’s development, such as transport, catering and hotel accommodation, and also indirectly through the introduction of new services, such as financial and academic institutions and tourism services, and, for example, through increased retail activity.
• We improve connectivity in the Region by building new roads and improving existing ones and by installing new bridges. We also plan to build new piers and ramps.
• We seek to promote effective formulas for providing the Aysén Region with more accessible and cheaper electricity. Through its Blanco project, Energía Austral will contribute between 12 and 15 MW to Aysén’s electricity system, infrastructure for which the company is already developing the engineering. If this is to mean cheaper electricity for the Region, the regulation in force will have to be modified and we have been active in seeking a solution through talks with national and regional authorities and other companies.
• We pay business licences and taxes in the Aysén municipal district.
• We create new opportunities for the tourism sector through the development of new attractions such as the Private Protected Natural Area around Lake Yulton.

Specific benefits of Energía Austral arising from its commitment to the community

• New training opportunities. A training programme offered in conjunction with the INACAP training institute specifically for the Aysén municipal district and tailored to its needs (trades, tourism and industrial fishing).
• Austral Film and Theatre cultural programme, designed primarily to increase access to the theatre and cinema for the inhabitants of Aysén.
• Social and community development through Social Investment Funds which support projects by social organisations that seek to improve people’s quality of life in areas such as education, sports, culture and entrepreneurship.
• Contribution to the quality of primary and secondary education through the School Library Implementation Programme, which seeks to encourage reading, and a programme of professional visits for pupils studying tourism at the Liceo Politécnico school in Puerto Aysén.
• Programme to promote competitiveness by building networks of producers in the Region.
• Support for micro-entrepreneurship through advice on use of the different platforms for the promotion of small and mid-sized businesses and specific programmes of training in entrepreneurship.

Environmental benefits

• Reactivation of forestry activity as a result of Energía Austral’s reforestation programme (creation of long-term semi-skilled and unskilled jobs, attraction of research centres and universities, etc.).
• Programmes of research into the biodiversity of the Aysén Region in the framework of environmental compensation programmes.
• Positioning of Chile as a clean country that seeks growth and development based on renewable energy which does not emit greenhouse gases and helps to mitigate climate change.
• Creation of protected areas and study of local ecosystems. A Private Protected Natural Area around Lake Yulton envisages sectors for preservation, conservation and public use and an area for the conservation of wetlands to the south of the Cóndor project, with a focus on research and environmental monitoring.
• Promotion of research into species of fauna and flora that are little known or have so far been little studied.