Santa Brigida Wind Park

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The company Sao Tome Holding S.A., a subsidiary of the Brazilian company Salus Fundo de Investimento em Participações S.A., was granted authorizations to build two seven power plants located in the state of Pernambuco, municipalities of Caetes, Paranatama and Pedras (total capacity of 191.7 MW). The 35-year contracts were signed with the regulatory agency ANEEL starting in Feb 2014. The wind park was also referred to as Parque Eolico Caetes. The Sao Tome Holding S.A. created the following special purpose companies to manage the power plants: Ventos Santa Brigida I Energias Renovaveis S.A. (13.5 MW), Ventos Santa Brigida II Energias Renovaveis S.A. (29,7 MW), Ventos Santa Brigida III Energias Renovaveis S.A. (29,7 MW), Ventos Santa Brigida IV Energias Renovaveis S.A. (29,7 MW), Ventos Santa Brigida V Energias Renovaveis S.A. (29,7 MW), Ventos Santa Brigida VI Energias Renovaveis S.A (29,7 MW) and Ventos Santa Brigida VII Energias Renovaveis S.A. (29,7 MW). The total investment in the power plants was estimated at US$ 20 million (BRL 47 million) for EOL Santa Brigida I and at US$ 260.1 million (BRL 611.4 millions) for other power plants. The project was financed with a loan granted by the state-owned development bank BNDES approved in June 2014 (US$ 68.2 million or BRL 160.3 million). In July 2015, Sao Tome Holding issued US$ 26.7 million (BRL 89 million) in long-term bonds, of which US$ 6 million (BRL 20 million) worth was acquired by BNDES. The government periodically runs public bidding for the sale of energy to the country´s distribution companies. All power plants won the public bidding that took place in 2013, by offering an average tariff of US$ 49.3/MWh (BRL 116/MWh). The project companies signed 20-year power purchase agreements with the several electricity distribution companies. Sao Tome Holding S.A. committed to start supplying the market in the second semester 2015. 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. Construction works commenced in August 2014, and were in advanced stage by December 2014. In January 2016, the UK based company Cubico acquired the project from Salus along with another wind farm located in Piaui in a deal worth US$ 588 million (BRL 2 billion).