FERRERE advised IDB Invest, an affiliate of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in its role as lender in the financing of a Uruguayan trust sponsored by the state-owned power company, Administración Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Eléctricas (UTE).
The purpose of the project is the design and construction of a 500kV power transmission line connecting the city of Tacuarembó (in the center of the country) with the city of Salto (in northwest Uruguay), with a total length of 365 kilometers. The works planned also include construction of the Chamberlain substation and reinforcement of the Salto substation.
The plan seeks to strengthen the national electrical power transmission system using renewable energy resources. In total, the project represents approximately 6.6% of the entire current high-voltage transmission network and 32% of the 500kV system in Uruguay.
The Tacuarembó – Salto project complements the Melo – Tacuarembó transmission line, also financed by IDB Invest, on which FERRERE had also acted as advisor to the lender.
With this project, IDB Invest will launch the first certificate for green transmission lines at world level. A green transmission line is a structure transporting renewable-source energy, such as wind, hydro, solar and sustainable biomass. This certificate evaluates the transmission lines according to their environmental impact and their contribution to climate change mitigation.
When asked by the transaction, the FERRERE partner Gonzalo Secco underscored the importance of this transmission line, given that, together with the one linking Melo and Tacuarembó, it creates “a 500kV ring cutting across the entire country and provides additional capacity and reliability to the system in general, which is notably one of the most ecological in the world, covering local demand with 97% of energy produced from renewable sources.”
Along the same line, the FERRERE partner Sebastián Ramos pointed out that “this financing for Uruguay’s first green transmission line is an important milestone for the country, which we hope will be a multiplying factor for such projects. The FERRERE ESG practice group is experiencing an ever-greater flow of ecological and sustainable projects for financing, which contribute to the Paris Agreement.”