France-based power producer Albioma announced on Dec 29 the successful commissioning its 48-megawatt (MW) bagasse-fired Vale do Paraná Albioma cogeneration plant, which is located in Suzanápolis, São Paulo, Brazil.

The Vale do Paraná facility is the first Brazilian project for which the company handled the construction and network connection works, as well as the subsequent operation. The facility is located adjacently to a sugar refinery and distillery that has the capacity to process up to 2 million metric tons of sugarcane annually. According to Albioma, the facility is expected to export up to 30 MW of electricity to the grid. The company also noted that a long-term power purchase agreement is in place for annual electricity sales of 120 gigawatt hours (GWh) until 2046.

The Vale do Paraná facility is Albioma’s fourth bagasse-fired power plant in Brazil. The company’s other three facilities are located in Rio Pardo, Codora and Esplanada and have a combined installed capacity of 202 MW. Together, the three plants export 400 GWh of electricity to the grid each year.