POWER August 2012 - 25

2012 PLANT OF THE YEAR
AES Gener's Angamos Power Plant
Earns POWER's Highest Honor
AES Gener recently completed construction of twin coal-fired, 260-MW units in
the electricity-starved desert of northern Chile that may serve as models for future
hybrid-fossil plant designs. For meeting an aggressive construction schedule, integrating
a 20-MW battery energy storage system, embracing desalination, using
the first-of-its-kind seawater cooling tower in South America, and employing innovative
financing methods, the AES Gener Angamos plant has earned POWER's
2012 Plant of the Year Award.
By Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
A
ES Gener S.A. is a Chilean publicly
listed power generation company
that has invested heavily in the future
of the Chilean economy. The sixth and
seventh most recent units to enter service
as part of AES Gener's $3 billion, 1,638MW
power plant expansion plan were the
two units at the Angamos Power Plant
(Angamos) on the Pacific coast of northern
Chile. Before examining the unique
design features of this coal-hybrid plant,
it's useful to look at the Chilean electricity
industry and the important role that independent
power producers (IPPs) play in
the country's economy.
AES Gener, 71% owned by U.S.-based
AES Corp., is the second-largest electricity
generating company in Chile. Pension funds
(14%) and public investors (15%) hold the
remaining stock. AES, based in Arlington,
Va., is one of the largest global power companies.
It operates 13 utilities and 121 generation
facilities in 28 countries.
The Chilean government contracts with
AES Gener for the supply of electricity in
26
two principal markets: the Central Interconnected
System (SIC) and the Greater
Northern Interconnected System (SING)
in Chile. These separate regions were
formed with the privatization of the Chilean
electricity sector in the 1980s, when
all generation, transmission, and distribution
systems were turned over to private
ownership. AES Gener, one of the largest
IPPs in Chile, operates 16 power plants in
the country, accounting for 3,821 MW of
capacity-2,241 MW in the SIC and 1,465
MW in the SING.
AES Gener enjoys a 22% share of the
Chilean electricity market based on installed
capacity. In the SING, where
electricity consumption is dominated by
mining (90%), the company's market
share is approximately 32%. Mining interests
represent about half of the country's
industrial infrastructure. In the SIC, which
covers over 92% of Chile's population,
including the densely populated Santiago
metropolitan area, the company's market
share is 19%. As of March 15, 2012, AES
www.powermag.com
Courtesy: AES Corp
Gener's market capitalization was approximately
$5 billion.
In Chile, AES Gener's diverse generation
portfolio-consisting of hydroelectric,
coal, gas, diesel, and biomass facilities-
allows it to flexibly and reliably operate
under a variety of market and hydrological
conditions. The company's power plants
are located near the principal electricity
consumption centers, including Santiago,
Valparaiso, and Antofagasta, extending
from Antofagasta in the north to Concepción
in south-central Chile.
Shifting Fuel Mix
The availability of low-cost natural gas
from Argentina delivered via pipelines
built across the Andes Mountains in the
late 1990s prompted construction of five
combined cycle plants that were used to
provide baseload generation to the SING.
In 2004, Argentina began to curtail gas deliveries
to Chile. The interruptions became
increasingly severe over the next several
years until gas deliveries were essentially
POWER | August 2012
http://www.powermag.com
POWER August 2012

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