Transelec has been building electric transmission systems since the nineteen forties, such as the one that was able to transport the energy issuing from the first Chilean electric power plant, Chivilingo. Since then and after 65 years, Transelec continues to build transformer substations and lines that transport the energy that feeds the large cities and settlements from Arica to Puerto Montt.
The construction of these systems has become increasingly more sophisticated, starting with the aerial crossover from Continental Chile to the large island of Chiloé in 1968, which was – at that time – considered to be the most important engineering project developed in the country. Transelec’s Engineering and Construction Vice-Presidency has made major contributions to the construction of Chilean energy transportation systems aimed at improving the quality of service, such as a series compensation system built at the Ancoa substation in 2004, which is the largest development and investment in electricity transmission in the country in the past twenty years.
Thus, the capacity to build electricity transportation systems is an indisputable attribute of Transelec’s experience and that of its team of experts who manage the construction of these enormous networks throughout the country with a high degree of innovation. For example, this group is capable of building lines to meet urgent situations such as the one caused by the drought that affected the country in 1998 making it necessary to build an emergency line, which was later dismantled, over the La Campana Park. No other company in Chile has managed to be so successful at building towers throughout the country’s rugged geography, from the vast northern desert to the high snowcapped peaks of the Andes.
Over time, the construction of Transelec’s transmission systems has optimized the potential of its network, so that the same strip of land granted as right of way is reused in new developments. This has resulted in a reduction in the area of land used for the erection of the lines in comparison with the increase in the transported energy. That is to say, whereas before the developments involved studying lower voltage parallel lines, today building is carried out taking care to provide for future solutions that will not involve more lines crossing over our land, but instead will optimize each of the available structures.