A loan of R$7.2B (US$3B) has been approved for the 3300MW project by the Brazilian national development bank (BNDES). The loan equates to approximately 68.5% of the total project cost, said the bank, which would give a total budget for the scheme of R$10.5B (US$4.38B). Last year, the mines and energy ministry (MME) noted the construction budget as R$9B (US$3.77B).
The Jirau plant is to be built with 44 turbines on the river Madeira, and the first units are scheduled to be in service by the beginning of 2013.
A GDF Suez-led joint venture was awarded the 30-year concession in May 2008. It has a 50.1% stake and its partners are Brazilian electric utilities Eletrosul (20%), Chesf (20%) and local construction group Camargo Correa (9.9%).
In April 2008, before the auction of the concession for the scheme, BNDES had said it was prepared to provide up to three-quarters of the funding required for the scheme.
Jirau is one of the two projects in the 6,450MW Madeira scheme, the other being the 3150MW Santo Antonio project which is to see first units in by the middle of 2012.
Earlier this year the bank approved a loan of R$6.1B (US$2.55B) for the construction of the Santo Antonio project. The financing equates to 46.6% of the project budget.
Santo Antonio is being built under concession by a consortium led by electric utility Furnas and construction group Odebrecht, and includes construction group Andrade Gutierrez, electric utility Cemig and a private equity fund held by banks Santander and Banif.
