Brazil's Eletrobras May Partner with Three Gorges on Wind - Report

SAO PAULO--Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (EBR, ELET6.BR), or Eletrobras, is seeking to build 200 megawatts of wind-power projects in China together with China's Three Gorges Corp., the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported Monday.

Government-controlled Eletrobras, which already has a memorandum of understanding with Chinese transmission-line company State Grid Corp., will take a minority stake in the offshore wind project through its Furnas subsidiary, Estado said, citing Olga Simbalista, Furnas's director of planning, management and investment.

The size of the stake and how much the stake will require Eletrobras to invest is still undefined, Estado said. The partnership could also be formed via EDP Energias de Portugal (EDPFY, EDP.LB), the Portuguese power company operating in Brazil in which Three Gorges took a stake last year, Estado said.

Brazilian officials signed an agreement to work with Three Gorges in February, at which point the possibility of the two companies working together on the wind power project was put forward, Estado said. Though Furnas was offered a partnership in onshore wind projects as well, Eletrobras wants to work with Three Gorges only on sea-based wind farms in order to better understand the technology, Estado said.

Brazil has been adding close to 2,000 megawatts of wind-generated electricity to its power capacity each year as it seeks to diversify its hydroelectric-dominated power matrix.

The two companies may also work together to try to sell solar-power projects at future energy auctions, Ms. Simbalista was quoted as saying.

Write to Paulo Winterstein at [e-mail].