Construction of the Rodeio Bonito hydro scheme in Brazil has commenced and the plant is due to be commissioned in early 2009, said developer Velcan Energy.
Velcan announced its plans in April for the scheme to be built near Chapeco, Santa Catarina, and has spent recent months undertaking detailed technical studies. The results of the studies have increased the planned installed capacity to 14.7MW from the initial proposal of 14MW, and forecast production is higher by 10% at 77GWh.
The company said in a statement that it has increased the plant load factor to 60%. Based on the new plant characteristics and higher electricity prices in the country, Velcan now anticipates revenues of Euro4.36M for the part year of 2009. For the following years to 2012, the French power firm forecasts revenues approaching then exceeding Euro5M.
Velcan said that it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to be stable at 86% of revenues over the period. Net income is forecast to rise from 41% to 47% of revenues over 2009-12, it added.
In terms of carbon credits, the company said the plant should provide 36,000 ton of CERs annually. The firm said that under the lifetime of its project concessions it expects to gain about 5% of revenues from trade in CERs.
As a growing renewables developer, Velcan Energy is active in Brazil and India where its portfolio includes hydro power concessions of 74MW and 359MW, respectively. The company aims to keep its focus on 50MW-100MW developments.
In Brazil, Velcan has a 30-year concession for the Rio das Mortes scheme. In India, the firm has 50MW of capacity under developments in two schemes – Bhimkund and Tarini – in Orissa state, and in Arunachal Pradesh it recently won concessions to build four plants – Heo, Hirit, Tato and Pauk.