Chile's national grid finally integrated with US$1bn transmission line

The final section of the Cardones-Polpaico 500kV transmission line, which spans 753km and connects Chile’s northern grid (SING) and central-southern grid (SIC) into a single national high-voltage system (SEN), has completed technical testing and started operations.

Owner Interchile confirmed to BNamericas that the line is now fully operational. Internal documents show that the company confirmed to Chile’s grid coordinator CEN that technical tests on the line had finished on May 29 at 18:00, while the CEN approved the start of operations at midnight, which means that Cardones-Polpaico is now available to be considered in the programming of power dispatch throughout the grid.

The news come almost two weeks earlier than expected, as Interchile still maintained on Tuesday that the line was on track to start full operations on June 11.

As BNamericas reported previously, Cardones-Polpaico has faced significant delays since its original estimated completion date of December 2017, due to hurdles including a 2017 scandal involving the alleged doctoring of environmental evaluation documents and, more recently, protests from local communities and environmental activists.

The project has been described by authorities and industry players as vital, particularly for the expansion of renewable energy, as most solar projects and many wind farms are located in northern Chile, where they need the additional dispatch capacity provided by the line to access the national grid.