SQM Yodo Nutrición Vegetal and ENGIE opened their doors to Tocopilla’s school community
08/Jul/2024
Students from Colegio Sagrada Familia visited SQM’s Coya Sur mine as well as ENGIE’s Coya Solar plant and BESS Coya. The visit ended with a heritage tour of María Elena’s emblematic sites.
Through a collaborative effort by SQM Yodo Nutrición Vegetal and ENGIE, 43 students from the Colegio Sagrada Familia de Tocopilla (COSAFA) visited SQM’s Coya Sur operations and ENGIE Chile’s PV Coya solar park and BESS Coya.
During the visit, the students learned the details of both companies’ production processes and expanded their knowledge of clean energy, potassium nitrate production and plant nutrition.
Leonor González, Head of Pampa Community Relations for SQM Yodo Nutrición Vegetal, remarked, “This educational program is one extremely important way we make our shared social value with the communities a reality. This time, we worked with COSAFA to bring the industry closer to schools and enrich learning processes.”
ENGIE Chile’s Head of Renewables O&M, Felipe Álvarez, said, “We are very pleased to have welcomed the students. The tour was an opportunity to learn about our solar park, which combines solar energy and battery-based energy storage. The latter is Latin America’s largest.”
Importantly, the visit included a guided heritage tour led by students from the María Elena elementary school, who are members of the community’s heritage preservation academy, which SQM Yodo Nutrición Vegetal supports.
THE TOUR
At Coya Sur, the students visited the mine and the pilot plant laboratories. They also got a panoramic view of all the processes from the viewing area over the mine.
At ENGIE, they toured the solar park and BESS Coya, an innovative battery-based energy storage system composed of 232 containers that support an installed capacity of 139 MW/638MWh.
One visiting student, Nicolás Espinoza, commented, “I learned several special things about this place. I really enjoyed the talks they gave.”
COSAFA student Helany Mora added, “It was very nice. You have to experience it! It’s really great. You learn a lot if you pay attention to the little details the instructors provide.”
Finally, COSAFA Rector Roberto Bórquez said, “The opportunity SQM and Engie provided was significant and important to those of us at Colegio Bicentenario Sagrada Familia. Visiting María Elena, Coya Sur and Engie’s solar plant allowed for detailed learning about nitrate and renewable energy processes.”
