What now for the Ibereólica-Repsol US$680mn Antofagasta wind project?

A US$684mn Chilean wind project recently given the environmental green light is in the economic and technical analysis and financing phase, BNamericas was told.

Spanish energy firms Ibereólica and Repsol are planning to build the project in Taltal, a wind resource-rich district in northern region Antofagasta.

If built, the plant – dubbed Antofagasta – would be the latest renewables project carried out under the partnership and among the biggest of its kind in Latin America. The two companies are the project sponsors.

Antofagasta involves 122 turbines of 6.6MW each, for total installed capacity of 805MW, according to a licensing document published this month by environmental review agency SEA. 

An associated 9.1km transmission line is also proposed and would connect to the planned 500kV Parinas sectioning substation. Chile’s biggest transmission firm by length of line in operation, Transelec was granted a concession to carry out the Parinas project, which has an environmental license.

“The [Antofagasta] project will start construction once all the requirements (technical and economic) are met and the sponsors agree to begin the works, taking into account the period regulated in the CUO [a government land-use concession],” Repsol told BNamericas in a statement.

First-phase construction is penciled in to start in July with access road work, according to the SEA document.

Antofagasta was submitted for evaluation in December 2020.

Project component procurement plans are in place and aim to “ensure competition and optimize project costs,” Repsol said.

Officials are also working on a financing strategy, indicating the model adopted may replicate that used in other Repsol-Ibereólica projects. For their first jointly developed wind park in Chile, the 193MW Atacama region plant Cabo Leones III, the firms used project finance, involving Spanish and international entities.

In terms of offtakers, Repsol said it could not disclose information.

This quarter Ibereólica and Repsol brought their second jointly developed wind park online: the 165MW Atacama plant, built in the region of the same name.

In Chile, the firms have a joint 1.2GW portfolio of projects in operation, construction or advanced development, targeting 2025 commissioning. Capacity could surpass 2.6GW by 2030.

Various large renewables projects entering the environmental review system in Chile today include battery storage systems, in response to dispatch bottlenecks at some nodes.

A major north-south HVDC transmission line is expected to enter service from around 2030 and ease congestion. In the meantime, battery storage, which can be deployed faster than major grid projects, is seen as having an important role to play. Grid planners have proposed incorporating a battery storage-based power regulation system into the planned Parinas substation. 

A 204MW Atacama region wind farm – not part of the Repsol-Ibereólica partnership portfolio – was in the news last year after reporting payment stress linked to price decoupling.

A combination of factors including rising fossil fuel costs, lack of flexibility and grid congestion has increased decoupling risk – or unfavorable price mismatches at injection and withdrawal nodes – and the gap between daylight and non-daylight hour spot prices.

The government is working on transmission bills, energy minister Diego Pardow told BNamericas last quarter.