BDNES Approves $856 Million for Foz de Chapeco Hydroelectric Plant in Brazil

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). The official Brazilian development bank, BNDES, gave the green light for the $856 million loan necessary for the construction of the Foz do Chapeco Hydroelectric plant, which will be located on the Uruguai river between Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina states.

Foz do Chapelco is made up of CPFL Geração de Energia (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 51% stake, Chapecoence Geração, 40%, which is a joint venture between Brazil’s power company Furnas and the Pentagono trust fund, and the state owned power generation and transmission company, CEEE (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) with 9%. The loan granted by BDNES for the construction of the new 855 MW plant represents 75% of the total investment estimated at $1,185 billion. Of the whole loan, $593 million are to be granted in direct financing to the Foz do Chapeco Energia consortium, the remaining $297 million through Bradesco, Santander, Banco do Brasil and Safra Banks. According to Enio Schneider, Foz do Chapeco General Director, the remaining 25% of the total investment will be provided by the consortium itself.

The new hydroelectric plant will start operations by August 2010, when its first turbine starts operation. Foz do Chapeco plant is to reach full capacity by March 2011, when its fourth turbine comes online. Schneider assured that 60% of the power that will be generated by this new hydroelectric plant has already been sold and the remaining 60% is to be sold in future government auctions.

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