President Lula was at the signing of the concession for the 3300MW project, which is being built in west Brazil near the border with Bolivia. The Suez-led venture is Consorcio Energia Sustentavel do Brasil (Cesb) and includes local power utilities Eletrosul and Chesf, as well as Camargo Correa.
The Jirau project is part of the 6450MW Madeira scheme being built on the river of the same name. The other project in the scheme is the 3150MW Santo Antonio, which was awarded to a JV led by Furnas and Odebrecht late last year.
Last month an appeal by a rival bidder for the Jiraiu concession was rejected by the national electricity regulator Aneel. The bidder was Consorcio Jirau Energia (CJE), which includes Odebrecht, Andrade Gutierrez and power utilities Cemig and Furnas.
The costs associated with the Jirau project are R$9B (US$5.54B) and in April the national development bank BNDES said it was prepared to support up to three-quarters of the budget. The plant is to start operations from 2013 and approximately 70% of its output has been pre-sold to distributors at a rate of R$71.37/MWh (US$43.9/MWh).
