Developers of the Santa Maria hydro project in Peru plan to use four Pelton turbines for the 750-MW project, wire services reported. The Santa Maria hydropower project would span the regions of Ayacucho and Apurimac and would take five years to build, Business News Americas reported. The energy and mines ministry granted Energia Azul a temporary concession for the project in September 2008 and gave the company 24 months to carry out feasibility studies, wire reports indicate. The ministry approved the water resource use feasibility study in June 2009, and it greenlighted the definitive water use study last March, according to wire reports. In other news, construction of the 155-MW La Higuera hydro plant in the Tinguiririca Valley of Chile has been pushed back slightly, with the project expected to come online in July. The hydro project is being developed by Chilean power generator Tinguiririca Energia, which is owned by Pacific Hydro and Norway's SN Power. Tinguiririca also is developing the 155-MW La Confluencia hydro project upstream from La Higuera in the same valley.