The consortium formed by Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. (Mitsubishi Power) and CONSAG Engenharia – an Andrade Gutierrez company (CONSAG) recently signed an agreement with Portocem Geração de Energia S.A. and New Fortress Energy, Inc. (NFE) for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the Portocem Thermoelectric Power Plant (UTE Portocem) in Brazil.
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The signing ceremony was held on May 10, 2024, in Tokyo at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (parent company of Mitsubishi Power) headquarters and included representatives from all parties of the consortium. The event celebrated this milestone achievement in Brazil’s largest simple cycle gas thermal power plant through a traditional Japanese Daruma doll ceremony. The Daruma doll is a custom used when setting a wish or a goal, and this symbolizes the communal goal for Portocem to be a successful project.
In the EPC agreement Mitsubishi Power will supply four M501JAC enhanced air-cooled gas turbines to operate in simple cycle at UTE Portocem. CONSAG will be responsible for providing the balance of plant , utilities, civil works, assembly, and commissioning of the plant as well as the implementation of the transmission line and substation. This collaboration will result in providing 1.6 GW of firm, dispatchable power capacity in what will be Brazil’s largest peaking power plant and one of the largest power plants ever built in Latin America, to provide reliable energy to the national grid in Brazil, supplying much-needed additional capacity to back the existing reliance on hydropower.
The project and its 15-year Capacity Reserve Contract received full regulator approval in March 2024. Portocem Geração de Energia S.A was the biggest winner of the first Power Capacity Reserve Auction in December 2021, and the project marks Mitsubishi Power’s third advanced technology heavy duty gas turbine project in Brazil in 5 years for a total of approximately 2.6 GW of gas turbine capacity.
Commercial operation is expected in 2026, with construction of the thermal power plant already in progress. NFE recently completed construction and commissioning of the Barcarena LNG terminal which will supply LNG to more than 2.2 GWs of capacity (owned by NFE) in Para, Brazil.
“The UTE Portocem project is yet another example of how the Brazilian power generation sector is recognizing the need for advanced, cleaner power generation technology to meet the needs of a changing market,” said Tim Shore, Senior Vice President of LATAM Commercial and Regional Leader for Mitsubishi Power Americas. “At Mitsubishi Power, we have the technology to support this transition and we thank Portocem Geração de Energia S.A for choosing us for this important project.”
Brazil’s energy usage has varied in recent years, in part due to droughts and environmental factors, and in part due to 99.5% of all homes becoming electrified. In a second update of its NDC (October 2023), Brazil set ambitious decarbonization targets, with a 49% cut in GHG emissions by 2025 and 53% by 2030 when compared to 2005 levels, with the objective to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 (Enerdata).
