RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bilbao-based Iberdrola, a Spanish multinational electric utility company, through its subsidiary Neoenergía, has been awarded the construction and commissioning of a high-voltage electrical substation in Brazil, with a planned investment of 103 million euros, the company announced on Monday.
The infrastructure will be located in Ibiraci, in the state of Minas Gerais, and the award was granted by Brazil’s electricity system regulator, the Agencia Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL), in an international tender to attract investment and improve and expand the country’s transmission networks.
The project consists of the 500,000-volt Estreito substation with three synchronous compensators, a facility that, according to Iberdrola, “will provide greater reliability and operational flexibility in critical scenarios of high energy imports by the southeast region”, in addition to guaranteeing voltage control in São Paulo’s high and medium voltage system.
The maximum deadline for the entry into commercial operation established by ANEEL is 48 months, to be met in March 2026, “although it is expected that this deadline will be brought forward,” the power company clarifies.
Iberdrola also estimates that the project’s construction will involve the creation of some 1,700 direct jobs and “numerous” indirect jobs.
Through Neoenergia, Iberdrola manages a distribution network of 540,417 kilometers in Brazil and covers 34 million people.
It also has around 3,700 renewable megawatts (MW) in operation and provides electricity service to 15.7 million customers.