450 MW in the Atacama Desert: Approaching EIA Filing

Among the pumped-storage hydropower (PSH) projects that Hyvity is developing in Latin America and Asia, the Mirador de Atacama project (450 MW) has just reached a key milestone. After several months of intensive work and numerous field missions, the studies are nearing completion with very positive results:

• Technical studies and impact assessments (social and environmental) finalized;
• Validation of the project’s robustness, particularly on the geotechnical level;
• Confirmation of the structural need and strategic importance of this type of facility within the Chilean energy context.

This period provided us with the opportunity to exchange with numerous stakeholders and to initiate several lines of thought with industrial players with the objective of deploying optimized technical solutions.

This is notably the case with the turbine manufacturer Andritz, as well as with the companies CARPITech and COVEX, with whom we are seeking innovative solutions to preserve water resources through the drastic reduction of infiltration and evaporation. Additionally, our work alongside the company Hydrogrid allows us to model the operation and integration of our infrastructure into its Chilean environment through a transversal and global numerical simulation tool.

Today, the securing of the Atacama project is sufficiently mature to engage in the search for financial partners in order to structure the following steps and start construction as soon as possible to support the Chilean grid as early as 2031. The next step is therefore the filing of the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) dossier with the state services to initiate its instruction and obtain the necessary sectoral permits.

This work reinforces our expertise in the development of PSH projects and, building on this momentum, we are accelerating the development of several other similar projects in Chile for a total potential of 2 GW!!!