BNDES finances 4 biomass power plants in Brazil

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) on June 21 announced financing for four biomass thermoelectrical plants and associated transmission systems. The four facilities have a combined capacity of 40 megawatts (MW).

All four facilities will be located in the state of Roraima, a region in north-central Brazil that boarders Venezuela and Guyana. According to BNDES, Roraima is the only Brazilian state that is not connected to the National Interconnected System power grid.

The four plants will be grouped into two clusters, each with two plants that share utilities and connections systems. The Serra da Lua cluster, located in the municipality of Cantá, will be home to the Bonfim and Cantá facilities. The Pau Rainha and Santa Luz plants will be built in Jacitara, located in the capital Boa Vista, according to BNDES

All four facilities will be fueled with wood chips sourced from wood industry waste. The plants, when fully operational, are expected to consume 1,000 metric tons of wood chips per day. BNDES said that all fuel used to fuel the plants will come reforested areas and be certified as sustainable under Forest Stewardship Council requirements or a similar internationally adopted program.  

BNDES has awarded R$80 million ($15.53 million) in financing to the projects. The support was granted to Oxe Participações SA, controller of the four special purpose companies, a renewable energy platform controlled by three national capital infrastructure funds, managed by the XP Asset, Trius Capital/Siguler Guff and Lyon Capital groups.

The biomass plants will reduce demand for energy generation from diesel thermoelectric plants, avoiding approximately 2.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually. Construction of the plants is expected to support 1,900 direct and indirect jobs. The facilities will also create approximately 200 permanent jobs.

A full copy of the announcement is available on the BNDES website.