In an effort to generate green or renewable energy, Chile plans to build a $400-million hydroelectric power plant in the middle of a desert.

According to Daily Mail, the power plant is planned to be built in the Atacama desert and in return, will solve problems of "solar and wind power -- inconsistency."

It noted that Chile-based energy company Valhalla, expressed its desire to use solar power to pump water from the Pacific Ocean into the Andes Mountains reservoirs.

This will also reportedly allow water to go back to the plant which will have a 300-megawatt capacity. This can already provide power to the three provinces in the country.

Reuters said that the project will be called the Espejo de Tarapaca, which is targeted to be built 100 kilometers south of Iquique in northern Chile. This area also houses the country's biggest mine sites, and has been dubbed as the key copper-mining region where industrial and commercial clients are present.

"This is the only place in the world where a project of this kind can be developed," said Valhalla strategy manager Francisco Torrealba said in the Daily Mail report.

Reuters further explained that electricity will be generated at night when water is released and gravity does its work. 

Torrealba noted that this new technology has already been tested around the world, though the new combination has not been tried.

In addition, Daily Mail said the plant got the go-signal from environmental authorities last week. With this development, Valhalla is now looking for investors and hopes to get the project in motion during the last quarter of 2016.

"We found these natural depressions that we believe were very ancient lakes, but obviously there is nothing there now, it is a desert, that will allow us to store water," added the company's co-founder and chief executive Juan Andres Camus in the Reuters report.

The company believes that using dry lakes in storing water will result in lesser spending for the project.

Inhabitat noted that the construction of the plant will take about two and a half years. The initial phase of the project is set to begin by the middle of next year, with the plant's operation expected to start by 2020.

It added that aside from Chile, this technology can also be introduced in other countries in the world.

"Creatively using the Earth's natural terrain to generate clean, sustainable energy may be just what we need to cut our reliance on fossil fuels," added the same report.