The Brazilian EBX and the Portuguese EDP were awarded a financial grant of BRL1.4 billion ($690 million) for the construction of their Pecem Port thermal-electric power plant by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). The power plant is located in the city of Sao Goncalo do Amarante, Ceara, in the Brazilian Northeast. The operation is expected to commence in 2012 with an anticipated capacity of 720 megawatts (MW) of energy. Construction work is part of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC).
The concession of credit is equal to 45.51% of overall investment of BRL3.4 billion. The payment should be made within a period of 17 years.
The BNDES funds are to be provided to The Society for the Specific Purpose of Pecem Port Electric Generation, created by MPX. The society also includes EBX, belonging to Eike Batista, and EDP Energy Brazil , controlled by the Portuguese EDP- Energias de Portugal.
According to the terms by BNDES, the thermal electric mill needs to implement technologies for clean generation utilizing coal as fuel.
As per the statement by MPX, the company also plans to turn ‘a significant share of investment to the development of carbon capture technologies’. The technology is being developed by EDP Energies Brazil and MPX together with Energo, from Ceara, and the Seambiotic Institute, of Israel. The proposal is for the gas produced to be turned to the tank, where it will be used as food for micro algae.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has also provided a financial investment of around BRL1 billion ($490 million) for the project.