Proinfa rules ready Monday

Brazil's federal government is expected to announce by Monday the rules for the Proinfa alternative power generation program, newspaper Gazeta Mercantil quoted mines and energy ministry Dilma Rousseff as saying. Proinfa will guarantee the purchase of up to 3,300MW generation from wind, small-scale hydro and biomass projects, and will attract as much as 8bn reais (US$2.8bn) investment, according to Rousseff. Half that amount will be for buying equipment, of which 60% will be manufactured in Brazil, Rousseff said. By end-March the government will announce which projects have been approved for the program and hopes to sign contracts by April 29, the newspaper said. The new projects will have to start operations in 2006 and will sell power to federal power sector holding Eletrobras and/or its subsidiaries under 20-year contracts.