Astronomers celebrate cancellation of $10bn Chile project that threatened clearest skies in the world | Chile
The scientific community is rejoicing over the cancellation of a project that would have threatened the world’s clearest skies in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
The proposed $10 billion, 3,000-hectare green hydrogen and ammonia production facility, known as INNA, included a port, transport links to the coast and three solar power plants, and had been under assessment by Chile’s environmental regulator for almost a year.
Astronomers had repeatedly warned that its proximity to some of the world’s most powerful telescopes would have irreparably damaged observing in the region, which is the world’s best site for ground-based astronomy.
“This cancellation means that the INNA project will no longer have a negative impact on the Paranal Observatory,” said Itziar de Gregorio, representative of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile, where it operates three telescope complexes.
“However, what this megaproject has brought to the table is the urgent need for clear protection measures around the sites where professional astronomy is practiced in Chile. This cancellation does not mean that the work of protecting the skies is over.”
Chile’s environmental assessment service confirmed that after meetings last week with AES Andes – the company that had proposed the facility – the project had been officially withdrawn.
Scientists had warned that the INNA facility would affect readings by increasing light pollution, causing tiny vibrations in the earth that would affect instruments, airizing dust that might settle on the mirrors of its precision telescopes, and increasing atmospheric turbulence.
They argued that there was no need to place the facility so close to the observatories given the potentially disastrous consequences for astronomy.
Aes Andes, a subsidiary of U.S.-based AES Corporation that produces power in Chile, Colombia and Argentina, with coal, gas, hydroelectric, wind and solar plants, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, in a press release, it specifies: “After a detailed analysis of its project portfolio, [AES Andes] decided to cease the execution of the INNA project”, while adding that it was “absolutely compatible” with other activities in the area.
An open letter published in December, led by 2020 Nobel laureate Reinhard Genzel, had urged the Chilean government to halt the proposed project because the facility would have been located just 11.6 km from Paranal, one of the most important observatories in the world.
Its Very Large Telescope (VLT), built at an altitude of 2,600 meters, carried out surveys which earned it three Nobel prizes. And on nearby Cerro Armazones, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) – which will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever built – is under construction.
This will allow astronomers to scour distant galaxies in search of Earth-like exoplanets that could support life.
