ENGIE Brazil invests 20 million reais in developing transmission towers, completion by 2027
2026-06-09 10:16
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en.Wedoany.com Reported - ENGIE Brasil is leading an innovative project, in partnership with Engetower and SAE Towers, investing 20 million reais to develop a new 525 kV transmission line structure platform aimed at enhancing energy transmission capacity. Named the Torre Águia project, its goal is to reduce construction costs, improve operational efficiency, and minimize environmental impact. This initiative is part of the Research, Development, and Innovation (PD&I) program of the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) and is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

ENGIE leads innovative technology project, investing 20 million reais in developing next-generation transmission towers in Brazil

Gustavo Labanca, Transmission Director at ENGIE Brazil, stated that the project reinforces the company's commitment to developing solutions that enhance the efficiency of Brazil's power system, while reducing environmental and construction impacts and bringing greater competitiveness to new transmission projects. The Torre Águia series is expected to improve the efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of transmission lines, consolidating a national technological solution applicable to future projects.

This project emerges in a strategic context for the power sector. With the rapid expansion of renewable energy generation, particularly in regions far from major consumption centers, there is a growing demand for solutions capable of transmitting more power without the need to build new transmission corridors.

ENGIE's proposal aims to overcome a key technical barrier in the industry: increasing the natural transmission capacity of lines, measured by the Surge Impedance Loading (SIL) indicator. This new technology will enable a transmission capacity of approximately 1,682 MW, surpassing the current market level of around 1,665 MW.

The difference lies in the engineering of the solution. Unlike traditional models that rely on guyed structures, the Torre Águia series is designed to increase the use of self-supporting steel towers, facilitating implementation in areas with complex terrain and reducing technical constraints for large transmission projects. Studies also indicate a potential reduction in transmission line investment costs of 2% to 5%.

The Torre Águia series brings together different structural configurations, including self-supporting, guyed, anchor, and terminal anchor types, developed under a single-pole concept aimed at improving project efficiency and flexibility. Expected advancements include unifying the electrical performance of different tower types, eliminating asynchronous sway effects, improving operational availability of assets, enhancing safety during assembly and cable laying, and simplifying on-site construction activities.

Paulo Henrique Muller, Energy Implementation Director at ENGIE Brazil, added that the new series of structures offers significant environmental benefits, such as reducing the number of foundations, decreasing vegetation clearance needs, narrowing line corridor widths, and minimizing land impact. These factors result from greater variation in structural height and a new arrangement for fixing conductor cables, allowing for larger spacing between conductors and adjacent vegetation.

The project is expected to last 20 months and will be carried out in five phases: current status survey and industry diagnosis, conceptual design of the new structural architecture, electrical and mechanical simulations, development of specific insulator strings, and conducting virtual and physical tests to validate the technology. Ultimately, the goal is to provide the market with a complete set of projects, studies, and validations, enabling the adoption of the new technology in future transmission projects.

Mario Wilson Cusatis, Performance Management and Innovation Manager at ENGIE, stated that the project represents a significant advancement in transmission engineering, proposing a structural solution that decouples SIL performance from reliance on guyed towers, which has historically limited flexibility in field implementation. The Torre Águia series combines structural concept innovation, advanced electromechanical research, and new insulation arrangements, offering higher transmission capacity, operational robustness, and concrete efficiency gains for the power system.

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