Work on the 500MW transmission line connecting Uruguay and Brazil is expected to be completed this year. The imports are scheduled to begin in 2014 and the exports to Brazil in 2015. The project was initially slated to come online in mid-2013.
According to Uruguay’s Mining, Industry and Energy Ministry’s Energy Director Ramón Méndez, Uruguay’s link with Brazil will allow for the import of cheap energy from Brazil during winter and the sale of Uruguay’s excess power in the spring.
To compensate for the difference in frequencies of the neighbouring nations’ grids (Brazil 60Hz, Uruguay 50Hz), a frequency converter was installed in Melo, Uruguay last year.
The line will initially have a capacity of 500MW, which could be increased to 1GW in ten years. This makes it much smaller compared with the Uruguay-Argentina 2GW capacity link.
The project is being developed under a company named Isur formed by Uruguay’s state power company UTE and national development corporation CND. The total investment required for the project is USD 350M, according to a previous statement from the president’s office.
