EDF has acquired a 51% stake in Sinop Energy Company, the company responsible for constructing and operating the 400MW Sinop hydroelectric dam in Brazil.
EDF subsidiary EDF Norte Fluminense will join the hydroelectric project’s two other stakeholders – Electrobras holding companies EletroNorte (24.5%) and CHESF (24.5%) – to build the dam upstream of several other projects on the Teles Pires River, in northern Matto Grosso state.
The Brazilian regulatory authorities have approved the deal. Dam construction started in March 2014 and commissioning is scheduled for the second half of 2017.
According to EDF, Sinop CES has implemented programmes aimed at compensating the residents of the zone impacted by the construction, ensuring the preservation of fauna and flora affected by the project, and removing part of the vegetation prior to the filling of the reservoir in 2017. Neither native populations nor protected areas are impacted by the project.
