Maire Engineering Awarded Contract to Build Two Coal-Fired Plants in Brazil

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Energias do Brasil S.A., a holding company that integrates EDP Energias de Portugal's assets in Brazil, has hired Italian plant developer Maire Engineering with mining company MPX Mineracao e Energia to build a 700-megawatt (MW) Pecem coal-fired plant. The will be equipped with two 360-MW Siemens steam turbines and two Doosan Babcock boilers. View related July 30, 2007, article - EDB and MPX Form Partnership to Develop Two Coal-Fired Plants in Northern Brazil. The plant will be in Sao Goncalo do Amarante in Ceara State.

Construction is planned to begin in February with an operation date targeted for December 2011. The total investment is valued at $1.2 billion, and the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract is worth $936 million.

MPX will build another coal-fired plant in the state of Termomaranhao. The 360-MW plant will begin construction in October and is also expected to be complete by 2011. The plant will also be equipped with a Siemens turbine. The project is valued at $600 million, and the EPC contract is worth $503 million.

MPX is developing seven other power projects: five thermal and two hydroelectric plants. The projects consist primarily of coal-powered thermoelectric plants. All the projects will be situated in Brazil except for the 1,400-MW UTE Castilla thermal plant, which will be in Region III of Chile's Atacama.

The main project is UTE Porto do Acu, a coal-powered thermoelectric plant to be built in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with a planned generation capacity of 1,400 MW in the first phase and 4,000 MW in the second phase.

According to MPX's investor relations officer, the nine plants will be ready for 2018 and they will produce 9.6 gigawatts. The total investment is valued $19 billion.

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