Etevensa starts Ventanillas combined cycle installation

Peruvian power generator Etevensa has begun installation work on the combined cycle stage at its 310MW Ventanillas plant that will add 70MW capacity by the first half of 2006, Spanish parent Endesa (NYSE: ELE) said in a statement. Etevensa started commercial operations of its Ventanillas plant using natural gas from Camisea in September 2004 after converting the plant to open-cycle gas-fired operations. The second stage to convert Ventanillas to a 380MW combined cycle plant by May 2006 will run total investment in the project up to US$100mn, of which Etevensa has invested US$70mn so far, the statement said. The conversion is now possible after the 230MVA Siemens generator built in Germany and the 260MVA transformer arrived at the port of Callao. To date the project is on schedule, having received 80% of the equipment and construction work on the combined cycle phase has reached 35%. The project will generate 450 jobs, the statement said. In August 2003 Etevensa signed a take-or-pay contract, originally held by state power company Electroperú, to buy natural gas from the Camisea project. Under the contract Electroperú will buy all the power generated for the first seven years of the contract. Endesa has been operating in Peru since 1994 and 10% of the company's Latin America assets are located there. Endesa owns generators Etevensa and Piura and, through its Enersis holding, generator Edegel and distributor Edelnor.