Chinese company powers Brazil's huge dam

Belo Monte Dam under construction in Brazil. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Belo Monte Dam is a hydroelectric dam complex currently under construction on the Xingu River in the state of Pará, northern Brazil.

The planned installed capacity of the dam complex would be 11,233 megawatts (MW), which would make it the second-largest hydroelectric dam complex in Brazil and third-largest in installed capacity, behind the Three Gorges Dam in China and the Brazilian-Paraguayan Itaipu Dam.

A consortium including the State Grid Corporation of China and the Brazilian Electric Power Company won a bid to build a 2,000-km-long ultra-high voltage line transmitting hydropower from the Belo Monte Dam to the country's southeast region.

The IE Belo Monte consortium, led by China's State Grid Brazil Holding (51 percent stake), was announced the winner on Feb 7, 2014, for the Belo Monte project, with a bid offering annual remuneration of more than 400 million reals ($100 million).

The other partners in the consortium are Brazil's state-owned Furnas (24.5 percent stake) and Eletronorte (24.5 percent stake).