Abengoa awarded 4 Chile projects for US$180mn

Spanish engineering and construction firm Abengoa won contracts to design and build four power transmission projects in Chile that will require approximately US$180mn of combined investment.

The first project comprises a 150km transmission line linking Chile's southern Araucanía (IX) and Lagos (X) regions, a company statement said, as well as a substation.

The second involves a substation in Biobío region (VI) that will take two years to complete.

The third project involves an expansion of the existing Cardones-Diego de Almagro transmission line in northern Atacama region (III).

The fourth and final project is for a 20km transmission line that will serve local copper and gold miner Centinela in northern Antofagasta region (II).

Abengoa also operates in the power generation segment and was one of the winners in Chile's last regulated market power supply tender.

COAL OUTPUT DOWN

In related news, coal-fired plants supplied 71.6% of power generation on Chile's northern SING grid in October, down from 82.9% in the same month a year ago.

Wind and solar combined to supply 3.5%, up from 1.8%, according to the latest monthly report from grid operator CDEC-SING.

The remainder of the October 2015 total came from natural gas (21.3%), oil products (2.5%) and cogeneration (0.7%).

Renewable energy sources also increased their contribution on the larger, central SIC grid.