ISA, Transelectric start 230kV interconnection

The respective state-owned transmission companies of Colombia and Ecuador, ISA and Transelectric, started operations Tuesday at a 230kV power line between the two countries. Investment in the 211km line was some US$45.4mn. The interconnection will supply more, higher standard power, improved telecommunications services and lower rates, ISA chairman Javier Gutierrez said. Its benefits have been estimated at US$180mn by allowing complementary hydro resources to be shared and reducing operating costs, Colombia's state news service CNE reported. Net power flows will go from Colombia to Ecuador, since the average generation price in Ecuador is US$0.105/kWh, compared to US$0.035 in Colombia. The line, which can carry 260MW, will enable Ecuador's average power price to fall to US$0.0596/kWh, according to Alex Molina, of Ecuador's grid operator Cenace, quoted in local paper El Universo. ISA is expected to sell power worth some US$4mn a week as a result of the deal, Colombian paper La Republica reported. By 2006 ISA intends to be acknowledged as the most efficient power transmission company in Latin America, it said in a statement. It already has interconnections with Venezuela and Ecuador, as well as concessions in Peru - where it will soon start new projects - and is studying other projects in Bolivia and Panama.