The 26th International Day for Biodiversity was celebrated on May 22.

Enel Chile believes that protecting biodiversity is one of the most important challenges we face in order to preserve our natural resources and life on this planet. The company has adopted a biodiversity policy that defines the guidelines for all management initiatives in this area. It is led by a specific area of the company, which is dedicated to the study, conservation, and protection of biodiversity, and which has specific programs throughout the territory.

This is how we strengthen our commitment to protect our natural resources. We seek to ensure that our power generation plants and electricity distribution assets are built and managed in a way that respects the environment and aims to create a balanced ecosystem.

Enel deploys responsible natural resource management during all phases of a project's life cycle.

A good example are two pioneering initiatives in the Maule basin: Hydro-energy by Design and Valuation of Ecosystem Services. These projects are designed to assess and prioritize Enel's environmental assets in this region and create a shared management proposal with local stakeholders and ensure the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources.

Native fish restocking

Enel is restocking native fish as part of its environmental commitments that came with the construction of the Ralco Power Plant, which is located 105 km east of Los Angeles in the Biobío Region.

Native species of fish including the Carmelita de Concepción perch (Percilia Irwin), the pencil catfish (Trichomycterus areolatus), and small catfish (Bullockia maldonadoi) are found in the Biobío river basin, specifically around the Ralco and Pangue Power Plants.

In keeping with our environmental commitments, we have developed a project aimed at protecting and reintroducing these protected species and mitigating the impact our plants have on the native populations.

Since 2019, Enel Generación Chile's environmental management area has been developing a native fish restocking project.

“We have set ourselves the goal of increasing native fish stocks to contribute to the conservation and environmental protection of native fauna of the Biobío river basin, specifically in the area surrounding the Ralco and Pangue Power Plant”

– Ginger Martínez, a biologist working with the company that is collaborating on the native fish repopulation project

It has been a challenge for the fish restocking team. “One difficulty has been in obtaining sufficient fish to successfully restock. There is no historic reference to indicate how many fish you need to guarantee the effectiveness of this measure. Therefore, the criteria we have used is based on the quantities authorized by the environmental authorities (Fisheries and Aquaculture Regulator),” Martínez said.

The program aims to achieve two specific goals in and around the Ralco and Pangue Power Plants. One of those will be to “increase the minimum population size and establish visible fish populations in the area around the Ralco Power Plant, which is the ecological flow zone. By doing that we boost the biodiversity levels for the native fish assemblage,” Martínez said.

In addition, the restocking program has demonstrated that the hydraulic conditions of physical stability created in the Ecological Flow Zone of the Ralco Power Plant are enabling the development of experimental populations of native species, for biological conservation purposes. This set a highly significant precedent for the development of energy projects.

In this way, our Biobío plants are not only generating energy but also contributing to the development of innovative activities for the research and conservation of native fish species.

Huinay and its commitment to protected marine areas

Immersed in an imposing 34,000-hectare Temperate Native Forest, the San Ignacio del Huinay Foundation has the necessary infrastructure to develop scientific research in the ecosystems of Chilean Patagonia, contributing to the understanding of climate change-related phenomena.

For Enel's Huinay Foundation, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are intended for preserving nature's completeness and diversity and ensuring that any use of natural resources are ecologically sustainable.

Currently, the Environment Ministry is preparing a regional strategy for Marine Protected Areas, updating and redesigning the management plans of 6 protected areas. This strategy is due to be finalized at the end of 2021. This project makes a solid contribution to the country's commitment regarding the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in the Integration Ocean Component N ° 11 (I11).

In 2019, the Huinay Foundation launched the P.O.E.T.A. (Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystem Observation Program) in Chilean Patagonia. The POETA program aims to encourage scientific research and make data and strategic information available to the scientific and non-scientific community in order to help with decision-making in climate change-related areas. Under the auspices of the POETA program, the Observational GeoPortal, Geoos was launched in December 2020. This platform provides free and real-time access to georeferenced information from satellite monitoring stations. The tool is available for use by students, scientists, academics, and other institutions.

Anyone who needs to access geo-referenced information or find out online what is happening off the coast of Chile or in Antarctica, can consult the Observational GeoPortal. The platform can be used to display data and information from very diverse areas and is designed to support decision-making on environmental matters.

Thanks to these and other projects that Enel Chile has invested in, Enel continues down a path to sustainable development, always respectful of Chile's extraordinary biological diversity.

Preserve and respect the value of biodiversity

Native fish restocking

Huinay and its commitment to protected marine areas