Secretariat to Open Comahue-Cuyo Transmission Bids Feb.

Bids for the construction and operation of the Comahue-Cuyo transmission line in Argentina will be opened February 1, Energy Secretary Debora Giorgi said. The bids had been delayed at the request of companies considering the project. The project would connect the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan, which currently generate their own power. According to local press, companies considering the line are France's EDF, the US' CMS and Chile's CGE, together with Argentina's Cartellone group. The Secretariat planned a series of transmission interconnections, and the only bids presented so far were by generator TermoAndes for the northwest-northeast interconnection and aluminum producer for the Choele-Choel - Puerto Madryn interconnection in the south. If the Comahue-Cuyo line is tendered in February, the only remaining line would be the Mendoza-Catamarca mining line project.