[China Co-Financing Fund] IDB administers 17.9 million USD loan from CHC to Difebal S.A. for Melo-Tacuarembo Transmission Line

[China Co-Financing Fund] IDB administers 17.9 million USD loan from CHC to Difebal S.A. for Melo-Tacuarembo Transmission Line On 13 July 2017, the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC, now IDB Invest), acting on behalf of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, signed a 56 million USD loan contract with Difebal S.A. to finance the Melo-Tacuarembó Transmission Line, through which the IDB would provide 38.1 million USD from its ordinary capital, and the People's Bank of China would provide 17.9 million USD via the China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean (CHC).

The IDB approved this loan financing on 9 May 2017, and IDB Invest refers to this as Project Number 12041-01.

The purpose of this project is to construct a 500kV transmission line between the cities of Melo and Tacuarembó in Uruguay. The project will expand the electricity network enabling the integration of renewable energy into the grid.

It seeks to strengthen the reliability of the Uruguayan electricity system by accommodating the country’s recent massive shift towards non-conventional renewable energy. The 213 km transmission line will represent approximately 5 percent of today's total transmission network. The project represents the first public-private partnership (PPP) for transmission assets in the country.

Italy’s Terna SpA will design, construct and supply the project to UTE, Uruguay's state-run electric utility, which will use and maintain the line under an Operating Lease Agreement. Terna, through special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Difebal S.A., will design and build the transmission line. The SPV hired SACEEM, a Uruguayan construction company, for the design and construction of the high-voltage line.

On 19 November 2019 the project was officially inaugurated.