Saturday, August 24, 2013

Argentine dam deal awarded to Chinese, domestic firms

Space Daily via AFP: The construction of two hydroelectric dams in Argentina's Patagonia region has been awarded to a consortium of domestic and Chinese companies, President Cristina Kirchner announced Wednesday.

Local Electroingenieria e Hidrocuyo and China-based Gezhouba Group Company Limited secured the deal, Kirchner said. Those losing out include Alstom (France)- Odebrecht (Brazil), Isolux (Spain), Sinohydro (China) and Hyundai (South Korea).

The dams, to be built on the Santa Cruz river, will have a production capacity of 1.740 megawatts, or 4.7 percent of national electric production.

Kirchner said the new construction would mean that the Santa Cruz river would have the second largest dam after Yacyreta, a dam located on the Parana river and jointly administered by Argentina and Paraguay. Argentina relies heavily on the Yacyreta dam, which covers 22 percent of the country's electricity needs....

A bridge over the Santa Cruz River at Comandante Luis Piedra Buena, Argentina.  Shot by James Cadwell, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic license

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