Brazil to build 10 hydro power plants in 2010

Sao Paulo, Sep 19 (IANS/EFE) The Brazilian government plans to set up 10 hydroelectric power plants this year with an aim to generate 4,000 MW of electricity, an official said.

The government has already submitted plans for three large hydroelectric projects to the Court of Auditors and it has plans to do the same with other smaller dams before Oct 10, said the president of the EPE energy research company, Mauricio Tolmasquim.

“The timeframe is very short and everything still depends on whether the environmental licenses are issued on time,” Tolmasquim told reporters after a seminar at the Sao Paulo State Federation of Industries Friday.

The hydroelectric projects are to be set up in the western state of Mato Grosso near the southern edge of the Amazon jungle. The largest of them, Teles Pires project, is planed to be set up near Paranaita town and will have the capacity to generate 1,820 MW electricity.

In April, contracts were awarded to a consortium of nine companies to build the 11,233 MW Belo Monte hydroelectric plant on an Amazon tributary. The dam would be the world’s third largest after China’s Three Gorges and Itaipu, which is jointly managed by Brazil and Paraguay.

Currently, about 85 percent of Brazil’s electricity is generated through hydroelectric plants.

–IANS/EFE