Chile’s energy transition leaves workers adrift

The vultures hover over Tocopilla, a mining city nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the arid mountains of the Atacama Desert, whose closed coal plants and idle port workers illustrate the rapid energy transition carried out in Chili.

The country of about 20 million inhabitants and with considerable capacity to produce solar and wind energy launched an ambitious plan in 2019 aimed at closing, by 2040, its 28 coal-fired power plants.

President Gabriel Boricelected in 2021, even hopes to shorten the deadline, with the parallel objective of 80% of electricity coming from renewable sources before 2030.

Meanwhile, nine coal-fired electricity units have been closed since 2019, of which four are located in Tocopilla (northwest) of the French company Engie, which promised to exit coal by 2025 in Europe and the rest of the world.

Along with Greece and the United Kingdom, Chile is one of the ten countries that most rapidly reduced its production of energy through coal, according to a November study by the World Resources Institute.

More than 35% of the energy produced in the country is of wind or solar origin, with enormous projects under construction, especially in the Lomas del Taltal region.

But even though companies with coal plants in the country provided support measures for their employees in the closure of their units, the same does not happen with outsourced jobs and contracting companies.

– “Put aside” –

“From one day to the next they told us ‘It’s closing,’” says Pedro Castillo, 62 years old, 36 of them dedicated to operating a crane for Somarco, an Engie contracting port company in Tocopilla.

In that city of 25,000 residents in northern Chilionly one of the old coal-fired power plants operates in the middle of one of the driest places in the world with lunar landscapes sculpted from rock and sand.

Owned by the American group AES, Somarco is due to close in March. The company has not responded to AFP’s requests for comment.

In the midst of the almost total inactivity of the port, Somarco still employs about 60 workers unloading coal destined for the city’s power plants that fed the nearby copper mines, a metal of which Chile is the world’s leading producer.

Like other port workers with whom AFP spoke, Castillo affirms that there is abandonment by both the State and the French energy company.

“Engie only took care of its employees, but those who really worked on coal were left aside,” he says, explaining that he shows up for work despite the fact that there is nothing to do and the lack of prospects for his future.

“It’s like when you’re old and waiting for the day you’re going to die.”compares Castillo, who is also president of the port workers union of this small city, affected for years by pollution from the power plants.

With the closure of four of its units, Engie laid off about a hundred workers. Of them, only a third benefited from a retirement plan before the retirement; another third was trained in other jobs within or outside the group; and the rest obtained a voluntary dismissal plan.

Consulted by AFP, the group said it was “aware” of the “social repercussions” of the decarbonization process for “workers.”

While getting ready for his last day of work, Juan Hidalgo, 48, temporary manager of the port for 15 years, also mentions the “disappointment” over what, according to him, are unfulfilled “promises” by the State.

“There is no reconversion, there is no relocation, there is no compensation, there is no retirement plan,” lists while not far from there some fishermen cast their rod under the gaze of red-headed vultures.

– “Challenges to be resolved” –

“The problem we have in Chili with the issue of the just transition is subcontracting”confirms Alejandro Ochoa, in charge of environmental and just transition issues at the Unitary Central of Workers (CUT), the strongest union in the country.

“Companies are taking care of their own workers and decarbonization is happening more through them than through government planning,” he states, estimating that in Chile “the problem” is that “public policies arrive late.”

For every 50 people who work in a coal plant, there are, according to him, 150 contract workers and 450 indirect jobs. “That adds up to 600 workers who are not covered by any measure,” stands out.

In a recent meeting with the French press in Santiago, the Chilean Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, acknowledged that there are “multiple challenges to be resolved” on this issue and mentioned a “fair socio-ecological transition” plan for Tocopilla that provides aid for labor reintegration in the sector tourism.

Pardow also pointed out future projects in the clean energy sector in the city, especially in the green hydrogen industry.

Engie, for its part, announced conversion projects for its “decontaminated land” in Tocopilla “in connection with the communities.” Its general director for Chile, Rosaline Corinthien, referred to hydrogen and battery storage work.

The Chilean Colbun, with no date announced for the closure of its only coal plant in the country, south of Santiago, assured AFP that “the possibility of using another type of plant is being evaluated.” fuels (…) for example hydrogen”, or wood granules.

“Anything that is good for the planet is good, but let’s not leave people behind”asks Pedro Castillo, before returning to the abandoned facilities of the industrial port.