The total investment will be BRL 9 billion, with the potential to create 5.500 direct and indirect jobs in Espírito Santo, between the construction and operation phases

Around 3200 jobs will be created in Espírito Santo with the construction of the new thermoelectric plant in São Matheus. Petrocity Geração de Energia intends to install the new undertaking, which will have a capacity of 1,8 GW, a natural gas pipeline and a regasification unit in the municipality. When inaugurated, the plant will have a greater capacity than the Porto de Sergipe I thermoelectric plant, which was inaugurated this week in Barra dos Coqueiros, with a capacity to generate 1,5 gigawatts.

The good news is due to changes in national and state legislation that regulate the natural gas market, awarding the state of Espírito Santo with the largest thermoelectric plant in Latin America.

U$ 1,2 billion (R$ 6,56 billion) will be invested for the installation of the new plant, the forecast is to start the works until the end of 2021. In the construction phase, up to 2.500 jobs are expected. The operation of the thermoelectric plant will need 700 permanent employees in several areas.

According to Ronaldo Badin, executive director of Badin Energia and responsible for the project, the thermoelectric plant will have three generating modules of 600 MW each, and the start of works depends on government auctions, since this energy will enter the national distribution grid. Since the plant will use about 6 million m³ of gas per day, and there is currently no legislation for this.

The new plant already has the Term of Reference for the environmental impact studies, and is now awaiting the final license from the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama).

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The company is studying three possible ways to supply the plant: via the Cacimbas-Catu Gas Pipeline (Gascac, the longest stretch of the Gasene), via an underwater route connected to the Campos Basin pre-salt layer or via a methane tanker (LNG carrier). Negotiations on the most attractive option should be completed in the second quarter of this year.

“That same gas will feed the back area of ​​the port (Centro Portuário São Mateus), serving as an energy matrix for any industry that wants to settle there”, said the executive.

But 90% of the workforce will be local. The works should last up to four years, and among the companies evaluated for the project is the Japanese Mitsubishi, which will supply the generating units.

São Mateus Port Center

Construction of the São Mateus Port Center was authorized by the federal government in May and, in addition to the port terminal, the port project includes a 560-kilometer railway to the municipality of Sete Lagoas, in Minas Gerais. The works still depend on an environmental license, under analysis by the State Institute for the Environment and Water Resources (Iema).

The total investment will be R$ 9 billion, with the potential to create 5.500 direct and indirect jobs in the region, between the construction and operation phases.

The new port will have a capacity of 18 million tons of dimension stones, containers, supplies, grains, steel, cellulose, wood, among others, coming from the south of Bahia, Minas Gerais, north and northwest of Espírito Santo and the Brazilian Midwest. The estimate is that the works will begin at the end of 2021, with the start of operations in 2024.

In addition to the port, Petrocity Geração de Energia, which has as a partner badin energy, will build a thermoelectric plant with a capacity of 1,8 gigawatts in the complex, which would make it the largest in Latin America, which will supply energy to the projects installed in the port. Both projects are expected to start construction by the end of 2021, with operations starting in 2024.