The Diplomat
Iberdrola, through its subsidiary Neoenergia, has started up a 730-kilometer power line between the north and northeast of Brazil, its largest network in the world, the company announced yesterday.
This is the Jalapão transmission line, which crosses four Brazilian states (Tocantins, Maranhão, Piuaí and Bahia).
This line enables the expansion of the transmission network to improve the energy exchange between the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, facilitating the flow of energy generated in the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant, an asset in which Neoenergía has a stake and an installed capacity of 11,233.1 megawatts (MW).
The company acquired the project in an auction held in December 2017 by Brazil’s National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) and the line has been commissioned fifteen months ahead of schedule.
During the work on the line, approximately 4,000 concrete foundations from the old transmission line were recycled and crushed into small pieces, enough to cement approximately 24,000 square meters of roads. This material was used to improve roads in the municipalities involved in the project. In addition, part of other materials, such as steel, was sold and with the proceeds more than 900 food baskets were purchased for people in vulnerable situations.
Neonergía has employed more than two thousand people in the peak employment of the works.
Iberdrola has launched an investment plan of 150 billion euros over the next decade (75 billion euros by 2025), with which it will triple its renewable capacity and double its network assets.
Almost half of this investment volume will go to the power network business.
Iberdrola operates more than 1.2 million kilometers of transmission and distribution lines and more than 4,400 substations around the world, which distribute electricity to more than 34 million people in countries such as Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil.
