Pacific Hydro has a number of significant hydro electric projects under development in Chile.

Upper Cachapoal River

The Company also has up to 550 MW of hydro power under development on the Upper Cachapoal River. These schemes are 100% owned by Pacific Hydro. 

Chacayes will be the first phase of new project development in the Cachapoal valley and our objective is to finalize construction by 2010. When this hydro plant starts its operations it will contribute 106MW of new capacity to the Central Interconnected System (SIC).

In addition to Chacayes, Pacific Hydro has plans to develop another 3 power plants. Construction of the first two projects, Las Leñas and Nido de Águilas, will commence in 2008 with completion of both expected in 2012. These two power plants will contribute with more than 282 MW of new capacity to the system. The last project the 78MW Las Maravillas hydro plant is scheduled for completion in 2014.

All of the projects will be run-of-river hydro plants, meaning that the natural flow of the river will be used to create the renewable energy, and the local geography won’t be changed by the operation of the power stations.

Once fully operational, the Coya, Chacayes, Las Leñas, Nido de Águilas and Las Maravillas will save more than 1.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution from entering the atmosphere every year. The social benefits of the project are also significant, with up to 1000 people to be employed over the construction period of each project.

The Chacayes project will play a significant role in the national market, bringing 106MW of new clean energy generating capacity to the SIC. This is equivalent to twice the energy demand of Rancagua city.

Tinguiririca River

Located on the Tinguiririca River, upstream from the La Higuera and La Confluencia projects an additional 100MW of hydro projects are currently under evaluation. 

Commissioning of the Tinguiririca projects is scheduled progressively from 2008. All projects in the Tinguiririca valley are 50/50 joint venture projects with SN Power of Norway.

Wind

Wind power has taken off and is on target to supply 12 per cent of the world’s electricity by 2020.

Pacific Hydro currently boasts more than 800MW of potential wind developments in Australia, and by 2011, we plan to have installed over 300 MW of new wind farms.

For Pacific Hydro Latin America is a very interesting region. That’s why we are looking for further investments in the region. Brazil is also target market for new wind opportunities for Pacific Hydro. The company entered the Brazilian wind market in 2006 and has a wind project portfolio of near 300 MW there.

 As part of our commitment with Chile, Pacific Hydro will contribute with its leading expertise on wind energy. The company participated in CORFO’s subsidy contest for projects involving investment in electric energy from renewable sources. Thanks to this we were able to install a wind measurement mast in Chiloé, as a place of reference to evaluate wind conditions in the area.