Santa Terezinha Tapejara Cogeneration Project

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Santa Terezinha's project was a 50.5 MW bagasse power plant at Tapejara city, Parana state. The project was a cogeneration plant which agreed to sell 28 of the 50.5 MW to state owned Eletrobras through a 20- year power purchase contract. The contract was part of the Financial Support Program for Investments in Alternative Sources of Electric Energy (PROINFA). PROINFA was a government sponsored renewable energy program in which wind, biomass, and small hydro projects selected for development were guaranteed 20-year power purchase agreements with federal utility Eletrobras at pre-specified prices and receive access to BNDES financing. The project cost was estimated at US$59.3 million (163 million real). 61% of the cost was financed by a direct loan from Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social (BNDES) and the remaining by the sponsor. Usina de Acucar Santa Terezinha Ltda was to add a modern boiler and new control equipment to an existing 13.2 MW electricity cogeneration power facility at its complex in order. The expansion and upgrade would allow the sponsor to achieve efficiency and reduce emissions from the operating plant that burned bagasse left over from processed sugar cane to produce energy. The power plant became operational in 2006.