Chile's Maderas Tantauco to Start Up Collil Hydropower Station

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Latin America (Cordoba, Argentina)--Maderas Tantauco (Castro, Chile) is preparing to start up the 7-megawatt (MW) Collil Hydropower Project in Chile's Los Lagos region.

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Located in Chonchi, the run-of-the-river hydropower plant will be equipped with two 3.5-MW Global Hydro Energy (Niederranna, Austria) horizontal Pelton hydro turbines that will supply energy to the local grid.

Since the end of July, workers at the station have performed final commissioning chores. The plant is expected to be in full commercial operation by the end of September. Construction began in May 2012, with an investment of $12.5 million.

Maderas Tantauco, which produces wood panels and boards, embarked on the hydropower project to promote renewable energy in Chile. The country expects 20% of its energy production to come from renewable sources by 2020.

The Los Lagos region is home to 900 MW in planned hydropower projects, making up 16% of Chile's hydro-electric ventures. One Los Lagos project is Endesa Chile's (NYSE:EOC) (Santiago, Chile) 490-MW Rio Neltume, which will include two Francis hydro turbines. Construction of the $781 million project is expected to kick off by mid-2015.

Other proposed Los Lagos hydropower plants include the 144-MW, $400 million San Pedro project by Colbun S.A. (Santiago), which will have two Kaplan vertical-axis turbines; and Endesa Chile's $250 million, 134-MW Choshuenco project, with two vertical-axis Francis hydro turbines. Both of these projects have planned construction kick-offs in 2016.

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