Brazilian development bank BNDES granted a BRL3.2 billion ($650 million) loan for the Babilônia Centro wind farm complex in the northeastern state of Bahia to be built by Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal and Brazilian renewable energy company Casa dos Ventos .
BNDES said the loan, its largest ever for a renewables project, will account for 80% of the financing of Babilônia Centro, according to a press release issued on Monday.
The project, which is expected to come on stream in 2025, will have an installed capacity of 553MW and an estimated output of 267MW, the release said.
Power generation is expected to account for 40% of ArcelorMittal’s electricity consumption in Brazil and will lead to the country’s largest ever corporate renewables supply contract. BNDES said Babilônia Centro will curb emissions by around 950,000 tons of CO² emissions per year.
ArcelorMittal has a 55% stake in the joint venture developing the project, and Casa dos Ventos owns the rest.
Brazil has added 28.7GW of installed capacity for wind power in the past 20 years and BNDES has financed 57% of the total investment, the lender said.
“Projects like Babilônia are fundamental to sustain the constant growth of renewable sources of energy,” said Luciana Costa, the bank’s director of infrastructure, energy transition and climate change.
3TENTOS INVESTMENTS
Meanwhile, Brazilian agribusiness company 3tentos announced plans to invest BRL2 billion by 2030, 70% of which will require outside financing, including by loans from development banks and long-term loans from commercial lenders, a source close to the company told LatinFinance.
A quarter of the total investment will be financed by structured transactions. The company is in the process of buying a corn processing plant and plans to extend its storage network. It is also investing in logistics and soy processing.