Esperanca Wind Power Plant

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The Italian company Enel Green Power was granted the authorization to build a wind power plant located in the state of Bahia (28 MW in total capacity). The new plant which was named EOL Esperanca was the last power plant to be built in the Serra Azul wind complex (total capacity of 118 MW, see ID# 8374). The special purpose company Enel Green Power Esperanca Eolica S.A. was created to manage the project, and a 35-year contract was signed with the regulatory agency ANEEL in February 2014. In August 2013, the company had taken part in a competitive bidding process to sell electricity to the regulated wholesale market (20-year power purchase agreements were signed guaranteeing the sale of electricity to the national grid). The sponsor submitted the winning bid of US$ 43.8 /MWh (BRL 102.4/MWh). The total investment committed to the power plants was estimated at US$ 41.8 million (BRL 139.6 million). Construction works commenced in January 2015 and were in advanced stages by December 2015. Enel financed the project with equity. The company was granted the right to take part in the government program called Regime Especial de Incentivos para o Desenvolvimento da Infra-Estrutura (Reidi). Companies selected to take part in this program were given tax cuts in the acquisition of capital equipment and construction material acquired both in the domestic and international markets (this incentive represented a cost reduction of about 9.25%). In addition, the company was allowed to use accelerated depreciation methods of accounting for construction expenditures. Finally, the electricity sold by the company was not subject to sector taxes. http://biblioteca.aneel.gov.br/index.html (Legislacao)