Marlin Azul gas-fired plant seals debt
Sponsors of the 565MW Marlin Azul gas-fired thermoelectric power plant in Brazil – Pátria Investimentos (50%), Shell (30%), Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (20%) – have closed a non-recourse R2 billion ($491 million) loan with BNDES to fund the scheme.
The $700 million project, located in Rio de Janeiro state, is backed by a 25-year PPA awarded in the 2017 power auction held by Brazil’s regulator Aneel. Additional capacity that is not contracted will be negotiated on a merchant basis or through bilateral PPAs. Cobra Group is the EPC contractor. Commercial operation is scheduled for 2022.
The Brazilian development bank’s loan will be used to finance construction and repay a R97 million bridge loan provided by SMBC. A pool of four banks – SMBC (financial adviser), Bradesco, Votorantim and Banco do Brasil – will provide the completion guarantees in the same amount as the BNDES loan. In effect, the construction risk is taken by commercial banks and not by BNDES.
