Chile's first transmission call of 2023 draws 8 bidders

Eight parties submitted technical and economic bids in Chile’s first transmission call of the year.

Grid coordinator CEN is seeking firms to carry out 22 expansion projects involving a combined US$82mn.

Projects offered in the current auction chiefly comprise substation expansions, with the biggest requiring around US$10mn. The planned work corresponds to energy ministry decrees No. 200 of 2022 and No. 185 of 2021.

CEN has tweaked the terms and conditions, among other changes, to incorporate industry best-practice requirements in the sphere of supplier, contractor and subcontractor management. 

Andaluza de Montajes Eléctricos y Telefónicos submitted the most technical offers with 14, Monlux Chile submitted nine, Cam Chile eight, Elecnor Chile four, and Cavalla Construcciones y Montaje Limitada, Efacec Engenharia e Sistemas one, Ingeniería Agrosonda and Sistema de Transmisión del Sur made one each.

The award decisions are due on September 4.

The government is working on draft legislation that would hand back to infrastructure owners control over the auction process for expansion projects, but not new builds.

CEN’s second transmission auction of 2023 is also underway. Officials are seeking bids for 15 new-build projects with a combined price tag of US$414mn. Overall estimated investment in conditional expansion projects is US$99.6mn. Offers are due September 1-5 and the awards are scheduled for November 3, according to the bidding rules. CEN has bundled some projects together, with the others being offered individually. 

Authorities have also launched an open season and a voltage control ancillary services auction.

ALSO READ: Transmission expansion processes underway in Chile

In related news, CEN restated the need to spur the installation of energy storage units in the country amid forecasts of growing electrification of the economy.

Juan Carlos Olmedo, chair of CEN’s governing board, said generation blocks needed shifting from daytime to nighttime rather than geographically, “since variable renewables capacity is being installed throughout the system.”

A rapid buildout of wind and solar farms in Chile has strained the grid, chiefly north-south transmission capacity, and brought into sharp relief the need for solutions that can be deployed relatively quickly, such as storage. The government has said a US$1bn auction of such systems was planned.