Copel to invest $ 465 mm with focus on Brazil's Maua hydro plant

Brazilian power company Copel's board has approved plans to invest reais 1.11 bn ($ 465 mm) in 2009, the company said.
Copel plans to allocate reais 614 mm to distribution, reais 215 mm to generation, reais 181 mm to operational infrastructure, reais 55.9 mm to transmission and reais 48.3 mm to telecommunications in 2009. The company has earmarked reais 180 mm from its generation plan for the 361 MW Maua hydro plant, which is due to start operations in January 2011.

Copel is partnering on the project with federal power company Eletrosul, a subsidiary of federal power holding group Eletrobras. The figures do not include new acquisitions, investments in generation and transmission projects arising from future bids, or spending by its subsidiaries Compagas, Elejor, Usina Termeletrica de Araucaria, Centrais Eolicas do Paraná and Domino Holdings.
Copel aims to close 2008 with reais 793 mm in investments for the year.

The capex plan for 2009 is "marginally negative," brokerage Ativa said ina brief note to investors based on a first look at Copel's strategy.
"Although the investment plan is 40 % higher than in 2008, the only project details are for the Maua plant," Ativa said.