New Electric Interconnection Opportunities in Latin America

Latin America has the conditions to globalize access to energy services and ensure energy supply that supports the sustainable economic development of the region, given its wide potential of energy resources. 

This is detailed in the study, Nuevas oportunidades de interconexión eléctrica en América Latina  (New Electric Interconnection Opportunities in Latin America), carried out jointly by CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, and the Comision de Integracion Energetica Regional (CIER) (Commission for Regional Energy Integration (CIER, for its Spanish acronym), where the potential of 12 energy integration projects in the region is evaluated. Together, they add to over 10,000 kilometers of new high-voltage lines, 6,500 MW of installed capacity, and demand investments reaching USD 5 billion. 

A Benefit-Cost Index (IBC, for its Spanish acronym) was calculated for each one of the projects to help visualize how desirable the investment is for each case; the higher the index, the better the project will be in economic terms. 

The results were grouped into four types of possible exchanges, among which the following eight projects are recommended:

• Use of economies of scale

Inambari Hydroelectric Power Plant (Peru-Brazil): although it is in Peru, the power plant would be located only 260 kilometers from the Brazilian border. It has the capacity to generate up to 2,200 MW and 90 additional MW could be added by taking advantage of the  Jirau and Santo Antonio power plants (in Brazil), by coordinating the management of basins between Peruvian and Brazilian operators.

• Cachuela Esperanza Hydroelectric Power Plant (Bolivia-Brazil): the power plant has the capacity to generate up to 800 MW. It is located in Bolivia, close to the border with Brazil. It has the capacity to add an additional 553 MW of firm power and could increase to 614 MW.

• Operational safety and energy export

Bolivia-Chile Interconnection: This 230 Kv transmission line, 150 Km in length with a capacity of 180 MW, comes from a geothermal power plant in Bolivia located near the border with Chile.

• Operational safety and exchange of opportunities

Colombia-Panama Interconnection: This transmission line is 614 Km long, it includes a 55 km underwater tranche, and has an exchange capacity of 300 MW from Colombia to Panama, and 200 MW in the other direction. 

Brazil-Uruguay Interconnection: This 500 Kv transmission line has a back-to-back HVDC link due to the frequency variation between these countries. Its total length would reach 420 Km, with a capacity of 500 MW in both directions.

Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil Interconnection: 500 Kv transmission line, with a length of 321 Km, and 2,000 MW of capacity in Paraguay to connect the bi-national power plants of Yacyreta and Itaipu, to enable the operational optimization of energy resources.

• Optimization of the use of existing infrastructure

Argentina-Brazil Interconnection (CIEN, for its Spanish acronym): The interconnection already exists. The objective is for Brazil to send energy to Argentina during the winter, and Argentina compensates supplying Brazil during the rest of the year.

Paraguay - Argentina - Chile Energy Swap: The proposed interconnection offers to send electric energy from Paraguay to the Chilean Norte Grande Interconnected System (SING, for its Spanish acronym), making use of the Argentinean transmission lines. The idea is for Paraguay to increase the energy supply to Argentina by 200 MW through its bi-national plant Yacyreta, and for Argentina to simultaneously send 200 MW to Chile.