Colbún cancels 800 MW pumped storage project in Chile

Paposo pumped
(photo courtesy Colbun)

Colbún S.A. has canceled its 800 MW Paposo Pumping Central project in Chile after difficulty with the environmental review process, the Chilean utility announced.

Colbún submitted its environmental impact assessment (EIA) last June, but the Antofagasta Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) rejected the submission a month later, arguing that Colbún neglected to thoroughly inspect the project’s designated cliff face for wildfire, in addition to omitting information about two indigenous communities living close to the site, Renewables Now reports.

Colbún appealed the rejection, but it said SEA ultimately only partially approved its appeal, adding that the authority’s resolution “is not very coherent and contains obvious formal errors.” Additionally, Colbún argues that it did provide information about the two indigenous communities in question but argued that SEA found issue with the format it was presented in. The utility said it conducted two years of outreach to neighboring communities and conducted a characterization of the indigenous communities in the territory. However, the two communities singled out by SEA were recently established and should have been characterized separately for SEA, Colbún said.

With a previously projected investment of close to US$1.4 billion, the main objective of developing this project was to contribute to the energy transition through a zero-emission renewable energy storage and generation system, complementary to solar and wind sources, favoring decarbonization of the energy matrix at night and early morning, at the time of greatest demand and when there is no solar generation.

The plant was expected to generate about 1,800 GWh per year. The upper reservoir would have been located 1,500 meters above sea level on the coastal cliff, with the lower reservoir at the foot of the cliff. A machine house would have contained the generating units.

The Paposo Pumping Central project also would have included a desalination plant with a maximum production capacity of 90 liters per second during construction (for filling the reservoir) and then 30 liters per second during operation to compensate for water losses due to evaporation and internal consumption. A 71-km-long transmission line and a 23-kV power line of almost 4 km would have been used for construction and then as power for auxiliary services.

Construction was projected to begin in mid-2026, with the facility put into service in the second half of 2029.

Colbún owns 27 power plants in Chile and Peru with an installed capacity of around 4,000 MW. The company has a roadmap to double its size by 2030, based on renewable energy and energy solutions that support its customers’ sustainability goals.

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