Image: Ramon Bucard via Unsplash
Eletrobras, the largest electric utilities company in Brazil, has finalized a deal to sell its thermoelectric power plants to Ambar Energia for 4.7 billion reais (approximately $878 million), according to a Reuters report citing the company’s security filing.
The agreement includes an earn-out provision of 1.2 billion reais. Ambar Energia will assume the credit risk associated with the energy contracts tied to these plants.
The sale emerged from a competitive process initiated in July 2023, following Eletrobras’ privatization in 2022. The initiative is part of Eletrobras’ strategy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Eletrobras highlighted that the competitive process enabled the company to maximize asset value with appropriate risk distribution.
The sale encompasses 12 gas-fired plants, representing the last of Eletrobras’ operational thermoelectric assets, with a total installed capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). The deal also includes a project for a new plant in Manaus in northern Brazil.
Ambar Energia, a local energy company owned by the conglomerate J&F, which also controls the world’s largest meatpacker JBS, will acquire these assets free of debt or cash.
The transaction comes amid Brazil’s push to advance green energy. In late 2023, the country joined more than 100 signatories in a landmark agreement to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and slash the use of fossil fuels at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
Brazil overtook France last year as having the largest clean-power sector among major economies, generating 93% of its electricity from clean sources during the first nine months of 2023. The country’s booming hydropower facilities have traditionally formed the backbone of its clean energy generation, but Brazil has been increasingly diversifying into solar and wind power.
Eletrobras has entered into a number of recent agreements to advance its role in the hydrogen economy. Earlier this month, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with infrastructure company Prumo to produce low-carbon hydrogen at a port in Rio de Janeiro, potentially leading to a pilot plant. The partnership between Eletrobras and Prumo aims to assess the feasibility of establishing a green hydrogen pilot plant with an initial capacity of up to 10 megawatts (MW).
Eletrobras has also signed an MoU with the European company Green Energy Park (GEP) to provide a renewable energy supply for GEP’s green hydrogen project in Piaui, located in northeastern Brazil. Future production from the site may be exported to industrial consumers in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia.
