Espejo de Tarapacá pumped-storage hydroelectric plant

Description: The project calls for the construction and operation of a pumped-storage power plant, spread over 593ha, in the cities of Iquique and Pozo Almonte, Iquique province, Tarapacá region, Chile. The project, located in the coastal sector of Caleta San Marcos, about 100 kilometers south of the city of Iquique, includes a transmission system to connect to the SS / EE Lagunas del SING. The project will pump, during the day, seawater through pumping-generation equipment, located in the Cavern of Machines, through submarine tunnels (marine intake) and underground tunnels (coast and farellón) to a natural depression that will constitute a reservoir from 585 m.a.s.l. where the extracted water will accumulate. Later, at night, the water accumulated in the reservoir will be conducted through the same underground tunnels to the pumping-generation equipment to generate electrical energy, finally returning it to the sea. The operation considers the same point at sea for the purposes of taking and discharging the water. The initiative will inject the produced power to Chile's northern SING power grid. Construction will demand a maximum of 750 workers, while operations will need 30 people.