Hidroeléctrica La Confluencia
- Capacidad instalada:156MW.
- Ubicación: Valle del Tinguiririca, Región de O´Higgins.
- Inicio de operaciones: Desde diciembre de 2010.
- Contratista: Constructora Hochtief-Tecsa SA (Chileno-Alemana).
La Confluencia Hydropower Station
Construction of La Confluencia power station began in October 2007, and operations began in December 2010. This run-of-river hydro power station uses the flow of the Tinguiririca, Portillo, and Azufre rivers, as well as four smaller waterways. Its main intakes are Portillo and Tinguiririca. The first has a 12 km-long channeling tunnel and can capture 25 cubic meters of water per second; the second one has a 9.2 km-long tunnel, and is able to capture 26.5 cubic meters of water per second.
Together, five other smaller intakes in lateral waterways can capture a total of between 1.5 and 2.3 cubic meters of water per second. Near the Tinguiririca intake, a reservoir was created with the capacity to store 1.2 million cubic meters of water, enough to keep the station’s operation during six hours at full capacity.
The hydro power station has 163 MW of installed capacity. The energy it generates is transported through a 18 km-long transmission line, from the La Confluencia power station to the Tinguiririca substation in the municipality of Placilla, where it enters the country’s Interconnected Central System (known by its Spanish-language acronym SIC).
- Investment: US$ 300 million.
- Installed capacity: 163 MW.
- Location: Tinguiririca Valley, Region of O´Higgins.
- Project delivery and commencement of operations: 2010.
- Contractor: Hochtief Tecsa Consortium.