Eldorado Thermal Power Plant - Phase 1

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Energética Eldorado Ltda, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Brazilian company Companhia Eldorado de Agronegocios was granted an authorization by the regulatory agency ANEEL to build an 28-MW thermal power plant located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (municipality of Rio Brilhante). The cogeneration power plant was set to use sugar cane residues as fuel. Besides the cogeneration unit, the industrial complex was set to have a sugar-cane pressing facility and an ethanol producing unit. The 30-year contract for the UTE Eldorado was signed by Energetica Eldorado Ltda with ANEEL in October 2004, allowing the power plant to operate in the electricity market as an independent producer. UTE Eldorado began operations in 2006 and demanded investment of US$ 15.4 million (BRL 33.6 million). In March 2008, ETH Bioenergia, a subsidiary of the Brazilian group Odebrecht (66%) and the Japanese Sojitz Corporation (33%), paid US$ 382.5 million (BRL 700 million) for Eldorado pressing unit and cogeneration plant, and additional investment should be directed to its expansion (as of 2009, its capacity was of 12 MW). In August 2010, UTE Eldorado took part in a competitive bidding process to sell electricity to the regulated wholesale market (a 15-year power purchase agreement was signed guaranteeing the sale of electricity to the national grid).