Furnas, Odebrecht submit Santo Antônio feasibility study

Brazilian federal power company Furnas and local engineering company Odebrecht have submitted feasibility and environmental impact studies to power regulator Aneel for the 3,159MW Santo Antônio hydroelectric project on the Madeira river in northern Rondônia state, Furnas said in a statement. The project is part of the controversial US$4.5bn Rio Madeira hydroelectric complex, which includes the 3,300MW Jirau generation project. Furnas and Odebrecht submitted studies for Jirau to Aneel in December 2004. Aneel will review the studies for both projects and after approving them will hand them over to the mines and energy ministry, which will seek a preliminary environmental license and include the projects in the shortlist for upcoming auctions, an Aneel spokesperson told BNamericas. If Furnas and Odebrecht they do not win the build-and-operate concession, the amount they spent on the studies will be reimbursed.. Aneel has approved four hydroelectric generation projects with combined capacity of 373MW and it is studying 16 projects with combined capacity of 18,775MW, among them Jirau and the 11,182MW Belo Monte project sponsored by federal power company Eletronorte. The government has reportedly said it wants to tender the Belo Monte project by the end of 2005.