GasAtacama, a consortium that is currently in the process of building a natural gas pipeline across the Andes from Argentina to Chile, together with an integrated power plant located in Chile, has signed a deal with the Chilean energy company EMEL for 60 per cent of GasAtacama's electric generating capacity for at least 10 years, the company said.
EMEL holds majority interests in three electricity distribution companies that are operating on Chile's northern interconnected system. The company will purchase an initial 230MWe in 2002, which will later rise to 415MWe by 2011. The deal is worth over $300 million, GasAtacama claims.
The GasAtacama project involves the construction of a 940km pipeline, which should begin operating in the first quarter of 1999. The scheme, which is costing an estimated $750 million, will also include a 740 MWe gas-fired power plant.
Partners in the consortium that is building the project are Endesa, CMS Energy, Astra Compania Argentina Petroleo and Pluspetrol Energy SA.
The consortium has now secured deals that total 85 per cent of the output of its power plant.
GasAtacama is facing fierce competition from NorAndio, a second consortium that wishes to build a pipeline to serve northern Chile, and InterAndes, a project which will supply power that is generated in Argentina to Chile's northern grid via a transmission line running across the Andes.
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