Alto Maipo finishes tunnel excavation– Today marks a fundamental milestone for the project and key for the country’s decarbonization

March 04, 2021

Alto Maipo finishes tunnel excavation

– Today marks a fundamental milestone for the project and key for the country’s decarbonization

Santiago, March 4, 2021.- Today, at 11:30 am, Alto Maipo, the largest renewable energy project in Chile, completed the excavation of its 74.6km of tunnels.

The tunnels’ excavation was carried out using state-of-the-art technology with the highest engineering standards, including TBM’s (Tunnel Boring Machine) specially designed according to the geology of this particular area of the Andes Mountains.

With this new milestone, the project’s construction leaves the geological risk behind and enters its final stretch to start commercial operations in the second half of 2021.

The 531MW run-of-the-river Alto Maipo project, comprised of two powerhouses (Las Lajas and Alfalfal II), is a fundamental part of AES Gener’s Greentegra transformational strategy and is key to Chile’s decarbonization. With an expected average generation of 2,200 GWh/yr, equivalent to the consumption of more than 1,000,000 households, Alto Maipo will deliver emission-free energy to Santiago, the country’s primary energy consumption center.

«As we announced last week on our earnings call, today is a great day for Alto Maipo, as the completion of the excavation marks the start of the final stage of construction. We are just a few months away from starting to inject renewable energy into the country’s main demand center, and that fills us with pride and satisfaction,» said AES Gener CEO Ricardo Falú.

It’s worthy to note that the Alto Maipo team achieved the South American excavation record by reaching 56.9m/d during the excavation of the Volcán tunnel, completed in October 2020.

The CEO, together with Bernerd Da Santos, Executive Vice President of The AES Corporation, and Julián Nebreda, AES Gener Chairman and President of AES’ South America SBU, thanked «all the project team who have contributed to materialize this great feat of engineering.» They highlighted that «Alto Maipo is key for Chile and will have a fundamental role in the decarbonization of its energy matrix.»

The energy produced by Alto Maipo will be added to that of the existing run-of-the-river plants in AES Gener’s Cordillera Complex (Alfalfal I, Maitenes, Queltehues and Volcán) and will be injected into Chile’s National Electric System (SEN). With Alto Maipo operational, the Complex’s potential for future expansions of the Virtual Reservoir (batteries) will increase to 1,250 MWh.

About AES Gener

AES Gener generates and sells electricity in Chile, Colombia, and Argentina with the mission of improving lives by accelerating a more secure and sustainable energy future. The Company operates a total installed operating capacity of 5,196MW in the region along with an extensive portfolio of renewable energy projects under development. The Company is the second-largest generator in Chile, with a diversified portfolio including hydro, wind, solar, energy storage, biomass, gas and coal-fired power plants.

In Chile, AES Gener owns 3,512MW, comprised of 2,959MW of thermoelectric, 267MW of hydroelectric, 110MW of wind, 102MW of solar photovoltaic and 13MW of biomass capacity, in addition to 62MW of battery energy storage systems, seawater desalination plants, transmission lines and gas pipelines in Chile. AES Gener also owns hydroelectric and solar plants in Colombia with a total capacity of 1,041 MW and a natural gas combined cycle plant in Argentina with an installed capacity of 643 MW.