Ecuador's tender for transmission system attracts foreign interest

Four companies from three countries have sent expressions of interest to participate in Ecuador’s tender for the construction and operation of a 290-kilometre-long (180.2 miles) transmission system that will deliver cleaner grid electricity to an isolated network that powers oil producers in the north-east of the country.

In a press release on Tuesday, Ecuador’s ministry of energy and non-renewable natural resources did not name the four companies, but said that they come from Spain, Peru and Colombia. The deadline to submit the expressions of interest for the Nororiental transmission project expired on March 16 after being extended from February 14.

The announcement of which company pre-qualified to advance further is scheduled for April 22, 2022, the ministry said.

The tender procedure for the Nororiental transmission system is part of a larger public selection process to find concessionaires that will build and operate several energy projects in the country as part of Ecuador’s Electricity Master Plan 2018-2027. In two other procedures, interested bidders will compete to build a 400-MW combined cycle gas-fired plant and 500 MW of new non-conventional renewables - wind, solar, small hydro and biomass energy.

All three tenders were formally launched in December 2021.

For the transmission project, the ministry will award a 30-year concession, expecting the construction to bring an investment of around USD 386 million (EUR 351.1m).

The winning party will finance, design, build and maintain three transmission sub-systems, six new substations, and a transmission line that can feed around 300 MW. The goal of the project is to connect the isolated the interconnected system in the north-east to the national SNI grid.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.91)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!