Chilean transmission company Transelec estimates that connecting the northern power grid SING to the central power grid SIC would be an economically viable project for the private sector, without inclusion in the government's proposed "electric highway" transmission scheme.
This interconnection could supply energy from the north to the south and balance tariffs across the grid.
Until now the cost of full interconnection, put previously in the region of US$1bn, has made the scheme seem uneconomic. IPR (GDF Suez) is the only company so far to have offered concrete proposals on the interconnection project, submitting an Environmental Impact Assesment (EIA) for a double-circuit transmission line running from Mejillones in region II to the city of Copiapó in region III in July 2011. The investment could be $500m and the line could be commissioned in 2014 (project still under environmental approval process).