RWE Renewables Chile is developing the Vientos Magallánicos project, a plant that seeks to produce green hydrogen and ammonia through a wind farm, which would be located near Villa Tehuelches, Laguna Blanca, about 100 km northwest of Punta Arenas.

The wind farm would have an installed capacity of approximately 1 GW and estimates an annual production of 475,000 tons of green ammonia to be exported to international markets.

In this context, PA Engineering carried out a Trade-Off study on transportation alternatives to the different ports in the area, evaluating the possibility of transporting electricity, green hydrogen or ammonia. The analysis included the definition of transportation requirements, equipment, surface area in Laguna Blanca and in port, possible routes based on a regulatory analysis and identification of singularities and the estimation of CAPEX and OPEX.

With the aim of accelerating the committed decarbonization, HIF set out to develop the first demonstration plant to generate E-Methanol and E-Gasoline from carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and hydrogen (H2) from water, including a wind turbine, an electrolyzer for hydrogen generation, CO2 capture, methanol synthesis, the Methanol-to-Gasoline (MtG) process and the entire balance of plant (BOP) in the Magallanes Region.  Chile.

HIF built the Haru Oni demonstration plant. This is one of the first projects of its kind in the world. The plant obtains green hydrogen from water based on an electrolyzer powered by wind energy; then, the hydrogen is combined with CO2 captured from the atmosphere and through a synthesis process methanol is produced. The methanol produced is treated and then transformed into E-Fuel (MtG process), including carbon-neutral gasoline and carbon-neutral liquefied gas. These E-Fuels cement the way for existing infrastructure to be carbon neutral, through the continuous reuse of CO2.

PA Engineering developed the BOP engineering of the MtG Plant, performing the basic and detailed engineering in mechanical, piping, structural, electrical and instrumental and control necessary to complete the MtG System, including the MtG unit building, the Tank Farm, the electrical power system, the interconnections with the methanol plant,  truck loading systems and facilities for other supplies from the MtG and Tank Farm areas.

The wind farms will have a combined capacity of 267 megawatts. The most advanced is San Gabriel, which will be made up of 61 AW132/3000 wind turbines, with 3 MW of nominal power, each wind turbine will mount a rotor of 132 meters in diameter on a concrete tower with a hub height of 120 meters, reinforced with anti-seismic technology.

The Tolpán Sur wind farm will have an 84 MW installation, made up of 28 turbines like those planned in San Gabriel. Both parks are expected to provide clean energy to about 407,000 homes. The Project is still under construction.

Orafti Chile commissioned a study of energy consumption optimization to the engineering office of its parent company in Germany. The objective of this study was to reduce the thermal energy consumption of the plant.

The project to reduce the energy consumption of its Inulin production plant began with the conceptual engineering study carried out by PA Engineering. The project included the piping to interconnect the new equipment and the replacement of existing lines, either due to hydraulic or material requirements. Then, basic and detailed engineering was carried out, which included modifications and new installations, the arrangement of evaporators, modifications to existing ones, installation of heat exchangers and transformation of existing ones, installation of pumps and tanks, assembly and/or modification of piping circuits, among others.

Built by Geotérmica del Norte – GDN, a joint venture between Enel Green Power Chile and ENAP, the plant, which uses high-enthalpy binary cycle technology, is the only geothermal plant in operation in South America and the highest of its kind in the world, as it is located at 4,500 meters above sea level.

This plant has two units with a installed capacity of 24 MW each for a total capacity of 48 MW and Enel is currently developing part 3 of the project, which is the installation of a third unit. In full operation, Cerro Pabellón is expected to be capable of producing around 340 GWh per year, which is equivalent to the annual consumption needs of more than 165,000 Chilean households, avoiding the emission of more than 166,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.

PA Engineering developed the Gathering System Detail Engineering of Cerro Pabellón 3, with scope of the structural, electrical and instrumental civil disciplines and control. The third unit is expected to come into operation in 2021, as reported by Enel Greenpower on its website.

The Luz del Norte project is a solar photovoltaic (PV) power in 478 hectares of land, diversifying Chile’s energy portfolio.

The 141 megawatt (MW) alternating current project is powered by more than 1.7 million First Solar advanced thin-film PV modules, which produce enough solar energy to power 174,000 homes and displace the equivalent of more than 185,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Grouped into four subsectors or PVCS units, each of these four PVCS units was connected to the substation considered in the project through a 23 kV collector. This new substation collects the plant’s 162 MW and connects it to the nearest existing substation in the system.

The project considered basic and detailed engineering, supplies, construction of civil works, manufacture and assembly of geodesic dome-type metal structures to specify the coverage of the court, which has multiple characteristics such as being self-supporting, light and allows it to adapt to the geometry of the terrain. This particularity makes the construction fast and similar to a large puzzle that is assembled by technical teams throughout the coverage area, without the use of cranes.

Once the structure was completed, a base cover of ribbed metal sheets was laid, similar to those used in industrial buildings. The project covered an area of 45,000 m2.

In 2008, PA Engineering was invited to participate in the development of the civil detail engineering, with the aim of designing the foundations required to support the 3 wind turbines that the wind farm will have. Then, the client requested the electrical detail engineering for the construction of the medium voltage line that connects the wind generators with the plant.

With the groundbreaking ceremony on December 11, 2009, this Bicentennial project began, which was inaugurated in October 2010 and involved a direct investment of US$ 5.3 million.

The wind farm included the construction of three wind turbines with a combined capacity of 2.55 MW, which supplied electricity to the Methanex facilities, from wind, and thus reduce CO2 emissions by 12,129 tonnes.

The project consisted of the replacement of the two 66/13.2 kV and 2.6 MVA transformers with a new 15 MVA equipment. It included the reuse of existing equipment, the extension of the 66 kV busbar, an extension of the 13.2 kV busbar in at least two positions for future feeders and the necessary civil works. It also included the necessary works for the Commissioning, such as adaptation of the protections, SCADA, civil works, assembly, earthing mesh, tests of the new equipment, and adaptations in the medium voltage yard, among others.

PA Engineering established the management team of this project through a management PMO to ensure its proper development. The work of the PMO that took charge of the project ranged from its basic and detailed engineering stage, obtaining building permits, environmental permits, supplies, construction and assembly, Commissioning and until the Entry into Operation of the new facility, which was achieved on August 25, 2022.

The coal power plant, with a gross rated power of 350 MW, uses pulverized bituminous coal as its main fuel. PA Engineering developed the detailed engineering in all disciplines for the seawater system of the new plant. This included the collection, treatment and impulsion to the plant and its return to the sea.

The seawater system, with a capacity of 50,000 m3/h, includes the water intake, siphon on the quay, pumping pit (14 x 45 x 18 m), seawater circuits to the plant and return circuits of 2 x 1,500 m in length for delivery at sea.

PA Engineering developed the basic and detail engineering for the improvement of the Instrumentation and Service Air System of Ventana 1 and Ventana 2. In addition, the engineering was done for a short-term solution in the use of water from ESVAL, for the replacement of the slag silo bucket elevator. 

Eléctrica Ventanas Company, a subsidiary of the AES Gener Group, operates the Nueva Ventanas thermoelectric, a plant that has an installed capacity of 272 MW that it injects into the Central Interconnected System (SIC). Nueva Ventanas has state-of-the-art technology to minimize its emissions into the atmosphere: semi-dry desulfurization (SDA) equipment for the reduction of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions; Bag Filter System that captures 99.9% of particulate matter (PM), and adjustable tangential carbon burners, which reduce the generation of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx).