The Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant is being built on the Xingu River in the Pará state of Brazil.
The Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant is being built on the Xingu River in the Pará state of Brazil. The project broke ground in March 2011 with the start of construction of the access roads. Upon its completion, it will be the fourth largest hydroelectric plant in the world with a capacity of 11,233MW.
“The project is owned by a consortium called Norte Energia, which is led by Brazilian federal power utility Eletrobras with a 49.98% interest.”
The $11.2bn project is expected to take eight years to complete. The plant will serve the electricity needs of approximately 60 million people.
The project is owned by a consortium called Norte Energia, which is led by Brazilian federal power utility Eletrobras with a 49.98% interest. Gaia Energia e Participações (Gaia) held a 10.2% share in the consortium. In April 2011, Brazilian mining company Vale purchased 9.2% of Gaia’s share in the consortium for $1.4bn.
The Norte Energia consortium now consists of Eletrobras (49.98%), Queiroz Galvão (10.02%), Vale (4.59%), Cemig GT (4.41%), Galvão Engenharia (3.75%), Mendes Júnior (3.75%), Serveng (3.75%), JMalucelli Construtora (9.98%), Contern Construções (3.755%), Cetenco Engenharia (5%) and Gaia Energia e Participações (1%).
The project has been facing a strong opposition from environmentalists and local residents. In June 2012, a group of 150 people, including members of some of the local tribes, occupied one of the dam’s construction sites. The protestors demand that the consortium responsible for the construction should demarcate their lands and provide a better health system and running water for those displaced due to the project.
The first turbine generator unit of the plant began commercial operations, with the first power fed into the National Interconnected System (SIN) in April 2016. The power plant will be fully commissioned in 2019.
Governmental approval of the Belo Monte facility
The project was first proposed in 1975 but did not materialise due to opposition from environmental activists and local people. The proposal was abandoned in the 1990s and measures to mitigate the impact caused by the plant were studied. The project was later modified to protect the environment and the people living in the area.