Early Warning System

Regions

Latin America and Caribbean

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Countries

Brazil

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Specific Location

municipality of Assú, Rio Grande do Norte State

Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.

Financial Institutions

IDB Invest (IDBI)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Approved

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Voting Date

Aug 30, 2022

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

Mendubim Solar PV

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Energy

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Guarantee, Loan

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 243.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Loan Amount (USD)

$ 110.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 253.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Bank Documents

Media Documents

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IDBI website

Updated in EWS Nov 9, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Apr 1, 2022

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Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

The proposed operation consists of the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Mendubim Photovoltaic Power Plant ("PV Power Plant") with a capacity of approximately 452.76 megawatts ("MW") and a substation, as well as a 5.17-kilometer ("km") long 230 kilovolts ("kV") Transmission Line ("TL") to connect the PV Power Plant to the Brazilian interconnected grid at the existing Acu III Substation ("The Project"). The Project will be developed in the municipality of Assu, Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

IDB Invest (IDBI)

As stated in a press release related to the development of the solar PV plant, in 2023 IDB Invest provided a loan of up to $130 million to Mendubim Geração de Energia S.A. and mobilized Banco Santander and BNP Paribas through unfunded risk holdings for an amount of up to $113 million. The deal also includes performance-based incentives (PBIs) of up to $10 million funded by the UK Sustainable Infrastructure Program (UK SIP).

Private Actors Description

A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the IDB Invest, the Project is sponsored by Equinor New Energy AS, Norsk Hydro and Scatec ASA, each with a 33.33% indirect ownership of the Borrowers. Project construction will be carried out by an Engineering Procurement and Construction Contractor to be determined.

Equinor has conducted business in Brazil since 2001, and the country is considered one of the core areas for Equinor. Equinor has a solid and diversified oil & gas portfolio in Brazil, with licenses both under development and in production such as Bacalhau, in Santos basin, and Peregrino, in Campos basin. Within renewables, Equinor is owner in the Apodi solar plant along with the operator, Scatec. In 2022, construction work started in the Mendubim solar project realized in partnership with Scatec and Hydro Rein. Together with Petrobras we are evaluating seven offshore wind projects in Brazil.

Hydro Rein is a leading provider of renewable energy solutions to industrials, fully owned by the global renewable energy and aluminum company Hydro. Hydro Rein facilitates access to affordable renewable power, sourced from our portfolio of hydro, solar and wind projects in Brazil and the Nordics. In addition, Hydro Rein also provides solutions for onsite generation, energy efficiency, energy storage and flexibility management. The company has a significant portfolio in the Nordics and in Brazil (1.7GW in construction and operations) with strong near-term growth potential (5 GW in the pipeline).

Scatec is a leading renewable energy solutions provider, accelerating access to reliable and affordable clean energy in emerging markets. As a long-term player, we develop, build, own and operate renewable energy plants, with 4.6 GW in operation and under construction across four continents today. We are committed to grow our renewable energy capacity, delivered by our 700 passionate employees and partners who are driven by a common vision of ‘Improving our Future’. Scatec is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ‘SCATC’.

Approximately 60% of the expected energy produced will be purchased by Alumina do Norte do Brasil S.A., a subsidiary of Norsk Hydro, through a 20-year power purchase agreement denominated in U.S. dollars. The remaining volumes will be sold on the Brazilian electricity market.

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	BNP Paribas	Investor	Finance
Banco Santander SA	Parent Company	Finance	owns	Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A.	Investor	Finance
Equinor ASA	Client	Energy	contracts with	Hydro Rein	Client	Energy
Macquarie Grp Ltd	Undisclosed	Finance	invests in	Hydro Rein	Client	Energy
Norsk Hydro ASA	Parent Company	Energy	owns	Alumina do Norte do Brasil S.A.	Buyer	Industry and Trade
Norsk Hydro ASA	Parent Company	Energy	owns	Hydro Rein	Client	Energy
Scatec ASA	Client	Energy	contracts with	Equinor ASA	Client	Energy
Scatec ASA	Client	Energy	contracts with	Hydro Rein	Client	Energy

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

e-mail: requestinformation@idbinvest.org