A single email thread family — "Technical Alignment Group A", later "Technical Alignment Projects Power Tree – IEnergía" — documents the entire pre-contract engineering of these plants. It shows the Owner (PowerTree), the tracker manufacturer (Arctech) and the Owner's engineer (AFRY) selecting, engineering and putting the tracker system into production months before any EPC Contract was signed, with iEnergia absent from the thread until mid-2024 — after signature.
Why this thread matters
It answers the Notice's central allegation
The Owner's Notice attributes the defects to the "Contractor's defective design or engineering (including review and validation of third party and vendors design and specifications)". The Technical Alignment record shows the design and engineering of the tracker system — including its interface with the module — was performed between PowerTree, Arctech and AFRY, on PowerTree's project account, before the Contractor had a contract. The "third party" whose design was involved is identified: AFRY (Patrick Furrer, later Jorge Saavedra), engaged on the Owner's side.
Who was on the thread
PowerTree (Owner)
- Joep Thomassen — Technical Director (thread owner)
- Francisco Promis
- Rosalía Méndez — then rosalia.mendez@power-tree.co.uk; the same person who served the July 2026 Notices from infrastrutture.eu
- Hugo Olivares
Arctech (tracker manufacturer)
- Arturo Quinteros — Technical Sales Engineer LATAM
- Alejandro Deulofeu — Project Engineer LATAM
- Alejandro Silva · Fernando Pinto · Cristian Valenzuela
AFRY (Owner's engineer)
- Patrick Furrer — on thread Nov 2023 – Jan 2024
- Jorge Saavedra — on thread from Jan 2024 onward
iEnergia (Alex Carthew, then Project Manager at iEnergia; Sara Barriuso, Project Engineer) appears on the thread only from May–June 2024 — after the EPCs were signed.
The pre-contract chronology, message by message
- 27 Nov 2023 · Arturo Quinteros (Arctech) → Joep Thomassen (PowerTree) · cc Patrick Furrer (AFRY) + PowerTree team
Thread origin: "Technical Alignment Group A". Group A = Falcon, Dinamo, Ranguil, La Brújula, LSA, Angol."Find attached the summary of Group A at this moment (excel) and the pending documentation (Installation Manual and Datasheet)" … "For start the design we will need those items as soon as possible. In this first week it is important to confirm and close at least the final layouts of the first group (A)."Email, 27 Nov 2023 — Arctech to PowerTree, cc AFRY. iEnergia not addressed.
The document status table in this thread records, per project, that PowerTree had already delivered to Arctech: geotechnical reports (27 Nov 2023), pull-out test procedures and results (27–30 Nov 2023), topography DWGs, the module datasheet (27 Nov 2023 — all six projects), the module connector datasheet (28 Nov 2023), final layouts (1 Dec 2023) and the project technical point lists (11 Dec 2023).
The module was fixed by 27 November 2023
Arctech's own tracking table shows the module datasheet was provided by PowerTree to Arctech on 27 Nov 2023 for all Group A projects — including Angol, Falcon and Dinamo — with Arctech noting: "as the module will be the same for the whole project, we only need this item 1 time." The module–tracker pairing that is now the subject of the Notice was made and communicated by the Owner, four and a half months before the first EPC was signed.
- 22 Dec 2023 · Arctech → PowerTree, cc AFRY
Manufacturing is starting — driven entirely by PowerTree deliverables."I will need the following document as soon as possible to continue with the manufacturing process." … "[DC Cable] is the only item that would be pending on your side to be able to start manufacturing."Email, 22 Dec 2023 — Arturo Quinteros to Joep Thomassen
- 26–27 Dec 2023 · Arctech ↔ PowerTree
PowerTree makes design decisions directly (grounding-hole position on the posts)."Please follow the one you indicated as standard. We also indicated the same in the technical sheets which were filled for each project."Email, 27 Dec 2023 — Joep Thomassen (PowerTree) to Arctech
PowerTree confirms it filled the technical sheets for each project — the Owner making the technical specifications.
- 22 Jan 2024 · Arctech → PowerTree
"Please find attached the BOM of the posts for the first 6 projects for you review and check."Email, 22 Jan 2024 — bills of materials issued to the Owner, not to iEnergia
- 26 Jan 2024 · Joep Thomassen (PowerTree) → Arctech · Importance: High
PowerTree has already issued purchase orders and is auditing them against Arctech's foundation calculations."I have been comparing the lists with the quantities and specifications in the purchase orders and I see some differences. I need you to cross check them because Arctech made the tracker foundation calculations on which the POs were based. … for La Brujula there is a big discrepancy. Please urgently recommend how to correct. I have attached the 6 PO's also for your reference."Email, 26 Jan 2024 — Joep Thomassen. Six purchase orders, placed by the Owner's side, pre-EPC.
- 26 Jan 2024 · Alejandro Deulofeu (Arctech) → PowerTree
Arctech reconciles the BOM/PO discrepancies for PowerTree — engineering-level dialogue between manufacturer and Owner."you calculated the number of piles with a wrong structural configuration in the 1Vx96 tracker configuration, since you used 5 DP and 10 GP. In the latest L1 report shared by our team, the structural configuration is set with 4 DP and 11 GP…" … "[Dinamo] you calculated the PO values with 1V96 – 19 trackers & 1V64 – 45 trackers. The difference it is caused by the 45 trackers, the value from the layout is 44 trackers."Email, 26 Jan 2024 — Alejandro Deulofeu
- 29 Jan 2024 · Joep Thomassen → Arctech · Importance: High
"Most important now, how do we make sure that the orders are corrected and the right number of piles in the correct configuration are produced and shipped. @Alejandro Silva can you please discuss with the team in China now how to make the corrections?"Email, 29 Jan 2024 — production in China already running on the Owner's orders
- 30 Jan 2024 · Alejandro Deulofeu (Arctech) → Joep Thomassen (PowerTree)
The decisive confirmation: the BOMs are in the factory."Please notice that the Bill of Material (BOM) were corroborated by myself before sharing the documents. The information in these documents are the same values sent to our manufacturing plant for the production of the piles. So please feel confident that everything would be properly done with production and shipment…"Email, 30 Jan 2024 — Alejandro Deulofeu. Thomassen replies the same day: "Now we need to do the same for the next 6 projects."
Contract dates, for contrast
Angol EPC signed 10 April 2024 · Los Sauces I & II 19 April 2024 · Falcon & Dinamo 16 May 2024. Everything above precedes all of them. Corroborating Dropbox record: Arctech GA drawing GA-2023112206-CL-POWER TREE-Angol Solar I (Nov 2023) and Preliminary Foundation Design dated 19-12-23 stating "Client: PowerTree" and specifying the SkyLine II 1V64 — see Documents.
Mid-2024: iEnergia joins — and immediately starts reporting errors
Once the EPCs were signed, iEnergia (Alex Carthew, Sara Barriuso) joined the thread. Its first documented acts were to question and correct the Owner-supplied Arctech engineering — exactly the conduct Clause 2.15(c) rewards:
- 4 Jun 2024 · Alex Carthew (iEnergia) → Arctech, cc PowerTree + AFRY
"En los planos originales (entrega 19.04.24), solo Falcon tiene una distribución de postes diferente al resto ¿esto está bien?" … "El plano 'Dibujo técnico general' solo coincide con el plano de Falcon, por lo tanto dado que justo es el que es diferente, no debemos [usarlo] como base para todos los proyectos, no? Confirmar en ese caso que los de abril son los buenos. Ya hemos hincado Angol, Los Sauces II y marcado Los Sauces I con los planos de Abril." … "Por favor contesta lo más rápidamente posible."Email, 4 Jun 2024 — Alex Carthew (alex@ienergiachile.com)
iEnergia detecting inconsistencies between successive Arctech drawing issues and demanding written confirmation of which governs — with piling already under way to the Owner's April drawings.
- 28 Jun 2024 · Sara Barriuso (iEnergia) → Alex Carthew, escalated to Arctech
"En algunos DWG estoy encontrando un error y es que los largos de los Torque Tube no coinciden en planta y en la elevación… El tracker corto está bien. El resto de proyectos los he revisado y están bien. ¿Podrías aclarar esto con Arctech, por favor? Yo he tomado para mis dibujos como bueno el de la elevación… pero necesito confirmación."Email, 28 Jun 2024 — Sara Barriuso (Falcon and Los Toldos DWGs). Forwarded to Arctech by Alex Carthew on 29 Jun 2024: "¿Puedes ayudarnos con estas preguntas de Sara?"
A documented, written notification of a technical error in Owner-supplied engineering — torque tube geometry, the very component under scrutiny in the cracking investigation.
What this record proves — and what it does not
PROVEN
- The tracker system was selected, engineered and in production (piles, China) on the Owner's orders by January 2024 — before any EPC.
- The module datasheet was delivered by PowerTree to Arctech on 27 Nov 2023 — the module–tracker pairing was the Owner's act.
- AFRY (Patrick Furrer → Jorge Saavedra) was the engineer on the Owner's side of that process.
- PowerTree issued the purchase orders and "filled the technical sheets … for each project".
- iEnergia was not a participant in the selection or pre-contract engineering.
- Post-contract, iEnergia notified technical errors in the Owner-supplied engineering in writing (drawing inconsistencies 4 Jun 2024; torque-tube geometry 28 Jun 2024) — conduct within Clause 2.15(c).
NOT (YET) PROVEN
- That iEnergia raised a written concern specifically about module format/size. No such record has been located in the mailbox or Dropbox. The purlin / 1400 mm hole-spacing / rivet-fastener compatibility point was raised by M. Troncoso (the Owner) on 26 May 2026 — not by iEnergia. Until sourced, this must not be asserted externally.
- The precise date PowerTree/Trina executed the module supply contract (pre-EPC selection is proven; the purchase paper sits on the Owner's side).
Prepared text — for use in correspondence
Drafted for insertion into a letter or memorandum. Every sentence below is supported by the record on this page. English; formal register.
The design and engineering of the tracker system installed at the Projects — including its pairing with the PV module — was performed before the EPC Contracts existed, by and on behalf of the Owner. The contemporaneous record ("Technical Alignment Group A", November 2023 – January 2024) shows Arctech Solar performing the tracker engineering for the Owner's project group under the direction of PowerTree LTD's Technical Director, with AFRY acting as the Owner's engineer, and with no participation by the Contractor.
By 27 November 2023, the Owner had delivered to Arctech the geotechnical reports, pull-out test results, topography, final layouts and — significantly — the datasheet of the PV module with which the tracker was to be configured. By 22 January 2024, Arctech had issued the bills of materials for the tracker posts of the first six projects to the Owner for review; by 26 January 2024, the Owner had placed and was auditing six purchase orders against Arctech's foundation calculations; and on 30 January 2024, Arctech confirmed to the Owner that those same values had been "sent to our manufacturing plant for the production of the piles". The first EPC Contract of the affected portfolio was signed on 10 April 2024.
It follows that the selection of the Arctech SkyLine II tracker, the selection of the Trina Vertex module, and the engineering of their combination were acts of the Owner, completed and committed to manufacture months before the Contractor was engaged. The Contractor subsequently procured and installed the equipment the Owner had specified — a specification the Owner then incorporated into the EPC Contract itself at Schedule C-7 (Technical Specifications of Key Components).
For completeness: where, after contract execution, the Contractor identified inconsistencies in the Owner-supplied engineering, it notified them promptly and in writing — including the discrepancy between successive drawing issues and pile distributions (4 June 2024) and the inconsistency of torque-tube lengths between plan and elevation views in the Owner-supplied DWGs (28 June 2024) — and requested the Owner's and Arctech's written clarification in each case, in accordance with Clause 2.15(c) of the EPC Contract.