Iberdrola's Guaraniana starts Termopernambuco ops.

Brazil's Guaraniana consortium has started operations of the US$330MW, 520MW Termopernambuco combined cycle thermoelectric plant in Brazil's Pernambuco state, consortium controller Iberdrola said in a statement Friday. Commercial operations will follow "in the next few months," the statement said. The plant is in the port of Suape, 40km from state capital Recife. It has a contract with federal energy company Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) for the supply of 700 million cubic feet (mcm) of natural gas a year, which will be delivered through local distributor Copergas. Bahia state distributor Coelba and its Pernambuco state equivalent Celpe will buy all the 3,975GWh annual production. The Guaraniana consortium controls both distributors. In the first quarter of 2004, Iberdrola invested 1mn euros (US$1.22mn) in generation and 11mn euros in distribution, all of which was met by funds generated in Brazil. The 450MW Itapebí hydro plant started operations in Q1, of which 183MW is net to Iberdrola. Guaraniana owns 87.8% of Termopernambuco.