Fonte: ANEELThe Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency’s (Aneel) collegiate Board of Directors approved the timetable change for installing the Santo Antonio hydroelectric plant to be built on the Madeira River in Rondônia. With this decision, the beginning of commercial operations for the 44 HEP generating units will be anticipated. According to the new physical timetable, commercial start-up was changed to May 1, seven months before the original date for the first turbines to begin generating, which was December 1, 2012.

The decision was taken after Agency analysis of eventual impacts of anticipating the commercial start-up of the plant on transmission and distribution networks that will provide the energy from the plant. When consulted, the National Electric System Operator (ONS) informed that anticipation is compatible with the calendar projected for starting up transmission line operations to connect the Santo Antonio plant to the National Interconnected System (SIN), estimated for January 2012. In this case, in order to anticipate commercial start-up, tests could be run in February of the referred to year. Furthermore, the ONS informed that anticipation will result in a reduction of nearly 10% in estimated value for the Marginal Cost of the Operation* for SIN submarkets.

Transfer of generation concession – The agency also authorized the transfer of the generation concession for the Santo Antônio plant from the Madeira Energia S/A consortium to its full subsidiary, Santo Antônio Energia S/A. With this transfer, the new company, Santo Antônio Energia S/A, keeps the concession to explore the venture, with an installed capacity of 3,150.4 megawatts (MW), and it will be responsible for transmission installations of restricted interest to the generating plant.

In the decision, the Board approved the Authorizing Resolution for the concession transfer and the signing of the first Term of Amendment to the Concession Contract no. 001/2008 – MME.

Inspection – The information about the works at the hydroelectric and thermoelectric plants will be available on the Agency’s home page at ‘Acompanhamento da expansão da oferta de geração de energia elétrica’. The interested party can obtain information and monitor the situation of generation venture works, including the Santo Antonio HEP. To access, simply go to www.aneel.gov.br and click on informaçõestécnicas/fiscalização/geração.

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* Marginal reference cost - value in reais per megawatt hour (R$/MWh), calculated by the EPE and approved by the MME of the highest estimated generation cost for ventures to be bid on, considered sufficient for meeting the joint demand of Regulated and Free Contracting Environment.