The French energy company said that it had studied the sites in the state of Goias over the last year and that there was a total of approximately 70MW of exploitable power. However, the projects did not represent strong enough business cases to be continued in development.
Velcan said that it would write off the Euro150,000 (US$210,000) invested in the development studies over the eight sites on the river.
While Velcan is building its first hydro power plant (15MW) as part of ambitions to build a portfolio in the country, it said last month that a strategic rethink was underway after the Government’s ruling to give preference in concession auctions to local firms. The range of capacities affected by the ruling, which had to be ratified, is 1MW-50MW, it said.
Elsewhere in Goias, the company recently agreed to help the state electricity company to develop two projects, of 64MW and 25MW-30MW installed capacity. The plants are to be operational by 2013.
