A €206.2 million project financing contract has been signed for the São Salvador hydro plant in Brazil by Suez Energy International.
CESS, an affiliate of Suez, signed the loan agreement with Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), concluding the financial arrangements for the construction of the 241 MW greenfield hydro plant in São Salvador.
Total investment in the project is expected to be €306.6 million, of which €206.2 million, some 67% will come from BNDES.
The plant is the first electricity generation project to benefit from favourable finance conditions set under the government’s Programme for the Acceleration of Growth and Suez has already sold its total 148.5 MW guaranteed output in a 30-year power purchase agreement starting from 2011.
The concession for the plant, located on the Tocantins river between the states of Tocantins and Goiás, was won in 2001.
Mauricio Bähr, chief executive of Suez Energy Brazil, commented: “If commercial operation starts before 2011, the company will sell the electricity to Tractebel Energia’s customers and to the free market.”
