Last November, the national environmental regulator, Ibama, issued its approval for the plant to be operated. The licence is valid for four years.
The project is being developed by the GDF Suez’s local subsidiary Tractebel Energia.
In a statement, GDF Suez said that the inauguration of the plant, which had a total investment of Euro307M (US$395M), consolidates its position in Brazil where, it claims, it is the main private power generator. The company has 7GW of installed capacity in the country.
The project has been built on the border of the states of Tocantins and Goias. Suez was awarded the concession for the project in 2001. The plant has guaranteed power of 148.5MW, which has been sold by auction for Euro2B (US$2.58B), for 30 years starting from 2011.
Elsewhere in the country, GDF Suez is leading a joint venture that has the concession to build the 3300MW Jirau hydro power plant on the Madeira river, in the state of Rondonia.
It is also leading a joint venture to build the 1087MW Estreito plant, also on Tocantins river, between the states of Tocantins and Maranhao.
