The published reference are about a month old...
www.bloomberg.com
...but developments seem to be moving rapidly. Alberto van Klaveren, Chile's Dutch-born Foreign Minister, allegedly has been having more discussions with US counterparts. The first priority, as last months reports suggest, is environmentally and economically sustainable exploitation of the lithium deposits. Although those have been nationalized, the fundamental issue remains how to produce lithium without environmental disaster.
The recent discussions with Tesla have been along similar lines, but also focus on solar power generation and distribution, electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and, not coincidently, the growing effectiveness of Virtual Power Plants, Autobidder and related topics leading towards reduction of grid instability and, perhaps more importantly, reducing necessity for import of petroleum products.
There have not been official pronouncements on these subjects thus far, at least linked together. Since the Tesla corporate submissions in Chile did make explicit inclusion of "production and supply of electricity" in addition to the full array of electric vehicle topics, it becomes logical that the present rumors are possibly correct, that Tesla has not given up on the lithium efforts as described long ago in 2019:
tesla-in-talks-with-chiles-sqm-over-lithium-investment
Equally obvious is that the 2019 discussion whetted appetites, although the specifics were not successful.
A significant factor in the present rumors is Enel:
corporate.enelx.com
(FWIW, EnelX supplied the charing equipment I have in Brazil)
One impetus for all this is the positive experience Chile has had with the Santiago busses.
Another is certainly Alberto van Klaveren, whose perspectives are allegedly having direct impact on these questions beyond only the Foreign affairs issues.
This post is speculative because the published information deals with narrow topics, not the Chilean government positions. I am confident that these events are moving quite quickly and that Tesla may well join the Chinese, who are doing all they can to advance their own interests in these arenas.
Chile Discusses IRA Benefits With US to Lure Lithium Investments
Chile’s government is in talks with the Biden administration over benefits that US companies could access from the Inflation Reduction Act if they were to invest in the mineral-rich Andean nation.
www.bloomberg.com
The recent discussions with Tesla have been along similar lines, but also focus on solar power generation and distribution, electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and, not coincidently, the growing effectiveness of Virtual Power Plants, Autobidder and related topics leading towards reduction of grid instability and, perhaps more importantly, reducing necessity for import of petroleum products.
There have not been official pronouncements on these subjects thus far, at least linked together. Since the Tesla corporate submissions in Chile did make explicit inclusion of "production and supply of electricity" in addition to the full array of electric vehicle topics, it becomes logical that the present rumors are possibly correct, that Tesla has not given up on the lithium efforts as described long ago in 2019:
tesla-in-talks-with-chiles-sqm-over-lithium-investment
Equally obvious is that the 2019 discussion whetted appetites, although the specifics were not successful.
A significant factor in the present rumors is Enel:
in Chile the fleet of electric buses is expanding| Enel X
Find out how the electric revolution came to Chile: a fleet of electric bus will link five municipalities in Santiago de Chile thanks to a project made by Enel X.
One impetus for all this is the positive experience Chile has had with the Santiago busses.
Another is certainly Alberto van Klaveren, whose perspectives are allegedly having direct impact on these questions beyond only the Foreign affairs issues.
This post is speculative because the published information deals with narrow topics, not the Chilean government positions. I am confident that these events are moving quite quickly and that Tesla may well join the Chinese, who are doing all they can to advance their own interests in these arenas.
