Brazil Plans Construction of New Hydroelectric Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Brazil’s government is already taking the first steps towards building a new hydroelectric power plant in the Amazonia State which will be located on the Tapajós, one of the last two big rivers in the region that still does not have a planned dam on it. The construction company, Camargo Correa S.A., Sao Paulo, Brazil, is in charge of a survey that will be finished before the end of the second quarter of 2007 and that will determine the hydraulic potential of the Trapajos River and its tributary, the Jamanxim.

Contractor officials say that an estimate on the power generation potential of the two rivers still cannot be determined; however, previous studies carried out by Eletronorte, Camargo Corrêa’s partner in the project, specified that the Tapajós River may produce nine thousand megawatts while the Jamanxim will produce two thousand megawatts. This would be twice as much installed capacity as the Santo Antônio and Jirau power plants, on the Madeira River, in Rondônia.

The Projects and Studies Financing Agency (Finep), Ministry of Science and Technology, has awarded $6.8 million in financing to Camargo. However, if there are no calls to tender for plant construction within two years, the contractor will pay the government and bear the cost of the study until a tender process occurs. On the other hand, if there is a tender, this cost will be transferred to the company that wins the bid.

Hydroelectric power plant projects usually mobilize environmentalists, due to the alterations on the environment brought about. Furthermore, building a power plant on the Tapajós River will generate an even greater conflict because there are conservation units, such as the National Park of Amazonia and the Itaituba National Forest (Flona), in the nearby area.

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