CHINA’S State Grid won a concession Friday to build and operate the second power transmission line to connect the massive Belo Monte hydropower plant to the national Brazilian grid.

    Belo Monte’s second line will be Brazil’s longest, stretching 2,500 kilometers from the hydroelectric complex in northern Para state in the Amazon jungle to southeastern Rio de Janeiro.

    The Chinese State-owned company, which had already won the concession for the first line in 2013, bid against Spain’s Abengoa in the auction for the project estimated to cost 7 billion reais (US$2.21 billion).

    According to the auction’s rules, the company who offered to collect the smallest annual amount on tariffs would win.

    State Grid’s bid was for a total charge of 988 million reais per year, 19 percent below the maximum allowed.

    Abengoa’s bid was for 1.049 billion reais per year, a 14 percent discount. Brazilian power sector watchdog Aneel considered the auction successful, given Brazil’s current financial situation of tight credit. “Few companies have the capacity to participate in an auction such as this, due to the size of the project. So, to have three companies participating can be considered a success,” said Aneel’s director José Jurhosa Jr.

    Brazil’s state-controlled utility Eletrobras was also registered in the auction through its subsidiaries Eletronorte and Furnas, but declined to present an offer.

    State Grid’s vice president for operations, Ramon Haddad, said the company plans to use all available credit from Brazil’s state development bank BNDES and other financing options such as local infrastructure notes.

    BNDES said it could finance up to 50 percent of selected phases of the project. (SD-Agencies)