BRAZIL’S FEDERAL POWER holding company Eletrobrás has selected 115 wind, biomass and small hydroelectric projects totalling 3195MW installed capacity to be included in the government's alternative power source incentive programme Proinfa.
Eletrobrás will buy power from 62 small hydro projects in 11 states. The company will sign 20-year power purchase contracts with all the project developers, while national development bank BNDES will settle final details to provide below market financing for 70% of the value of each project.
In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, one of the leading regions for wind and small hydro projects, 220MW in four wind projects and 165MW in eight small hydro were selected. The wind projects should start construction by the end of the year, while some small-scale hydro could start in 2005.
Meanwhile, Pigatto’s Hidrotérmica is preparing to sign contracts to start building four small-scale hydroelectric projects in Rio Grande do Sul by December. Hidrotérmica’s four projects are the 22.5MW Caçador, 19.5MW Linha Emília, 28MW Jararaca and 29.5MW Cotiporã schemes.
In Eletronorte’s area of operations in northern Brazil, federal power holding company Eletrobrás selected 19 small hydroelectric projects. Eletrobrás chose nine projects for small-scale hydroelectric plants with a total installed capacity of 165MW and four biomass generation projects adding up to 92MW in the sub-Amazon state of Mato Grosso as well as six small-scale hydroelectric projects with installed capacity of 102MW in Tocantins state.