Chile's National Electric Coordinator (CEN) has released the financial bids for the international public tender to incorporate Ancillary Voltage Control Services (SSCC). The tender is for the construction of new facilities or the retrofitting of existing power plants with approximately 1000 MVA of capacity. This will help mitigate thermal costs and create a better environment for increased renewable energy generation, particularly during daylight hours. This infrastructure would help maintain system security, as synchronous capacitors compensate for the loss of this attribute and withstand abrupt changes in voltage amplitude and/or phase in a scenario with greater participation of solar and wind power generation. AES Andes, Colbún, Engie Energía Chile, Transelec Holdings Rentas Ltda, Alupar Colombia, and Celeo Redes Chile are the companies competing in the SSCC tender, submitting a total of 16 proposals to provide the service. Engie and Alupar submitted the most technical proposals (five each) to Chile's National Electric Coordinator, followed by Colbún and Transelec (both with two bids); while AES Andes and Celeo Redes each submitted one. The financial bids from the six companies vying for the contract for Complementary Voltage Control Services must consider opportunity costs, operation, wear and tear, maintenance, commissioning, and/or implementation, among other factors.
While the award can be partial or total, the government has defined the maximum amount for the Annualized Value of the Complementary Service (VASC) for each bid according to the following table: However, in the case of a total award, the VASC associated with the set of bids that allow for meeting the short-circuit power requirements at the busbars identified in the tender amounts to USD 47,230,000.
Therefore, the overall value of the solution (maximum VASC + VAPC + annual energy costs) is equivalent to USD 60,440,000. Below is a detailed breakdown of each proposal:
- AES Andes
- ID1: USD 7,530,407
- Alupar (only 4 offers qualified)
- SE1 - Ana María 220 kV: USD 10,498,500
- SE 2 - Nueva Chuquicamata 220 kV: USD 6,248,500
- SE 4 - Illapa 220 kV: USD 8,898,500
- SE 15 - Frontera 220 kV: USD 8,748,500
- Celeo Networks
- Project ID1: USD 15,640,081
- Colbún
- SE1 Ana María 220 kV: USD 15,792,496
- SE4 Illapa 220 kV: USD 15,878,502
- Engie
- Synchronous Capacitor ID_01: USD 10,726,714
- Synchronous Capacitor at S/E Chacaya 220 kV: USD 3,824,807
- Synchronous Capacitor at S/E Chacaya 220 kV: USD 3,401,469
- Synchronous Capacitor in Tocopilla Central Substation 220 kV: 4,150,947
- Synchronous Capacitor at Tocopilla 220 kV Central Substation: USD 3,283,162
- Transelec
- SE1 Ana María 220 kV: USD 12,434,258
- SE3 Likanantai 220 kV: USD 11,450,600