SIIF Enegies do Brasil

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The Brazilian company SIIF Enegies do Brasil Ltda., a partnership of the portuguese company HLC (51%) and the Americans Citigroup (18.85%), Liberty Mutual (18.85%) and Black River (11.3%), was granted the authorization to build four wind parks in the state of Ceara in June and August 2002. Four 30-year contracts were signed with the federal regulatory agency ANEEL in that year. The first one (Foz do Rio Choro) was for 14 units to be built in the municipality of Beberibe, with a total capacity of 25.2 MW. The second one (Praia Formosa) was for 58 units to be built in the municipality of Camoeira, with a total capacity of 104.4 MW. The third one (Icaraizinho) was for 30 units in the municipality of Itapipoca, with a total capacity of 54 MW. The fourth one (Paracuru) was for 13 units in the municipality of Paracuru, with a total capacity of 23,4 MW. For each generating unit, a separate authorization was granted to special purpose companies created to manage the projects. Financial closure for the project was reached in 2008, when state-owned institution Sudene granted a total amount of US$ 179.6 million (BRL 328.6 million) in loans. Lending was also provided by the state-owned bank BNB. The total investment in the four wind parks was estimated at US$ 484.5 million (BRL 886.6 million). The project companies have power purchase agreements arranged with the state-owned company Eletrobras for 20 years through the Brazilian Federal program PROINFA (incentive program for alternative power generating companies). The projects have already started operations : Paracuru in November 2008 ; Foz do Rio Choro in January 2009; Praia Formosa in August 2009; and Icaraizinho in October 2009. In April 2011, CPFL Renovaveis acquired 100% of SIIF Energies do Brasil shares for US$ 913 million (BRL 1490 million). About half of this amount refered to the transfer of debt from SIIF to CPFL Renovaveis. CPFL Renovaveis was established as a partnership of the Brazilian companies CPFL Energia (63.6%) and ERSA (36.4%).