By Letícia Fucuchima
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The National Electric Energy Agency decided on Tuesday night to revoke the grants granted to thermoelectric projects by Turkish company Karpowership that won contracts in an emergency auction held by the government last year.
Unanimously, the agency’s board of directors understood that the company failed to comply with the deadlines for the four thermoelectric plants to start operating and that there was no exclusion of liability, as claimed by the company.
With a total capacity of 560 megawatts (MW), the plants would be installed in Sepetiba Bay (RJ) on floating vessels along with units for the storage and regasification of liquefied natural gas (FSRU).
By the rules of the emergency auction for contracting energy, carried out in the midst of the water crisis that the country faced last year, the projects should be operational on May 1 of this year. As of August 1, non-operating projects would be subject to penalties and contractual termination.
The projects were Karpowership’s first in Brazil. The company is part of the Turkish holding Karadeniz, which has investments in thermal, geothermal and solar energy generation and operates in countries such as Gambia, Sierra Leone, Indonesia and Lebanon.
The contracts won last year, with planned investments of more than 3 billion reais, would have a term of just over three years.
The Turkish company had filed requests for exclusion of liability for the delay, alleging, for example, delays in environmental licensing and in the delivery of inputs due to the closure of the port of Shanghai due to measures to combat Covid-19.
In their oral presentation, representatives of Karpowership also stated that an injunction from the Rio de Janeiro Court determined the complete stoppage of the project when it was ready to go into operation. According to the company, this injunction was granted after Aneel’s technical areas had already considered its request for exclusion of liability.
Unanimously, the directors of Aneel denied the company’s requests, understanding that the entrepreneur was aware of the risks of meeting the tight deadline for the implementation of the plants, and it was up to him to act in order to mitigate the possibility of delay, reduce it or eliminate it. there.
The regulatory agency also determined that an administrative process be instituted for the application of possible penalties due to the non-implementation of Karpowership’s plants.
In a press release, Karpowership said that it respects the process that took place at Aneel, but does not agree with the decision.
“The company is confident in its arguments and reinforces that it followed all the procedures and legal requirements necessary to fulfill its responsibilities, even with a challenging deadline to start the operation”.
Karpowership also said that it will take all available legal measures and that it believes that “Brazilian justice will prevail”.
LATE PLANTS
Karpowership’s projects aren’t the only ones experiencing delays. Of the 17 plants contracted in last year’s emergency auction, 11 were not ready until August 1st.
Consumer associations and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Adolfo Sachsida, have been in favor of terminating the contract of non-operating projects, since, in addition to not complying with the rules of the contract, they would also provide more expensive energy at a time when the country does not need.
(By Leticia Fucuchima)
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