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CO-COST Project: Resolving congestion to support reliable connection of renewables in La Guajira
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Smart Wires collaborates with ISA TRANSELCA to unlock 200 MW of capacity for renewable energy in Colombia
November 8, 2023
Smart Wires today announced the completion of a large-scale project in Colombia which uses SmartValve™, the leading modular power flow control technology, to unlock over 200 MW of grid capacity for clean energy connections this year. ISA TRANSELCA commissioned this project earlier this year and will expand their use of SmartValves in 2024 to allow for further renewable development in the north of the country.
The Guajira – Cesar – Magdalena (GCM) region in northern Colombia is expected to see a significant increase in renewable energy generation in the coming years, putting strain on the existing transmission grid. In 2021, the national planning agency, UPME, identified a need to address grid congestion on 220 kV circuits to support reliable connection of renewables, and SmartValve was selected as the preferred technology. ISA TRANSELCA deployed SmartValves across two circuits to push power off overloaded lines under N-1 conditions, ensuring that the region’s increasing level of renewable energy resources can be reliably connected to the grid from 2023 onwards.
“In this project ISA TRANSELCA are using SmartValves to unlock over 200 MW of capacity for renewables this year. They will then relocate a portion of the SmartValves deployment to an additional location to further unlock another 500 MW of capacity in 2024. ISA TRANSELCA have been an excellent partner to work with and we look forward to continuing to collaborate on many more projects in the future, including the Atlantico project which will be delivered next year.”
Joaquin Peirano, General Manager, Americas
SmartValve is a modular power flow control technology that quickly solves bottlenecks and grid issues to create extra capacity. It is a patented, award-winning, single-phase modular SSSC that injects a voltage in quadrature with the line current to essentially push power off overloaded lines or pull power onto underutilized lines. SmartValve eliminates many disadvantages of previous power flow control devices, providing a flexible and scalable technology with multiple network applications. Alternate network options that were evaluated by UPME for this project were more costly, took longer to install, disruptive to communities and didn’t provide flexibility to be quickly adapted over time to meet changing needs of grid.
This project brings the total additional grid capacity provided by SmartValves to over 850 MW in Colombia alone. There are multiple additional SmartValve projects approved in Colombia’s 2020-2034 Transmission Expansion Plan over the coming years with ISA TRANSELCA and other transmission owners. Several other subsidiaries of the ISA Group are also actively collaborating with ISA TRANSELCA and Smart Wires to analyze use cases for this technology on their grids across Latin America.
About Smart Wires
Smart Wires is the world’s leading grid enhancing technology and services provider. We quickly solve bottlenecks and grid issues to create extra capacity and provide advice on the policies, market design and solutions critical to creating the digital grid. Headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, Smart Wires has a global workforce of visionary, tenacious industry-leading experts spread across four continents. Together we are paving the way to energy certainty, on a global scale. Working with our customers, industry partners, policymakers and regulators, we are transforming the grid into a digital, secure and accessible platform capable of delivering net zero, new business models, jobs and prosperity.
For press related purposes, please contact us at marketing@smartwires.com.
For press related purposes, please contact us at marketing@smartwires.com.
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