Correspondents from the international news agencies EFE, Agence France-Press, and ANSA toured the region to observe its cultural heritage and innovations in the area of renewable energy.
Fundación Imagen de Chile and the government of Arica y Parinacota organized a press tour to draw attention to the region in the international media. Spain's EFE, France's Agence France-Presse, and Italy's ANSA toured the province of Arica, where they were shown its regional heritage and innovations in the solar energy sector.
Following the inclusion of the Settlement and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture on the UNESCO World Heritage list, the journalists visited the San Miguel de Azapa Archaeology Museum and the Colón 10 Site Museum to observe conservation work on the mummies. They also viewed the site where a museum will be built to exhibit and conserve over 2,500 archaeological and ethnographic pieces from Chinchorro culture, thus allowing the region to be promoted through cultural and heritage tourism. The journalists also explored Caleta Camarones, where the Chinchorro people lived thousands of years ago and traces of their passage through the territory can still be found.
Arica, a natural laboratory for solar energy research and development
Members of the international press also visited the El Águila solar plant, which stands as a milestone in Chilean solar energy generation as the first plant in the country to connect to the network in 2013. The plant, which is owned by Engie, is used as a laboratory to test different types of technologies designed to improve energy efficiency and generation using the sun, such as bifacial panels and a cleaning robot that does not use water.
The region has used its privileged weather conditions to develop various initiatives to bring non-conventional renewable energies to local communities. For example, SERC Chile (Solar Energy Research Center) developed the Ayllú Solar Project to promote the sustainable development of the region's urban and rural communities, using solar energy to improve people's quality of life through science. The journalists also visited the Acuisol cooperative in Camarones, where trout are bred using water treated with solar energy, and Pampa Concordia, the former mining camp on the Peruvian border that has become an orchard in the middle of the Atacama Desert.
