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MeneameBrazilian engineering services company Alusa plans to expand its international operations in Latin America to 30% of its total revenues within five years as part of its growth strategy to diversify risk, the company's new business director José Lázaro Rodrigues told BNamericas.
Among possible future projects are the 1,800km, US$230mn Siepac Central American transmission integration network and engineering procurement contracts (EPCs) in other Latin American countries, Rodrigues said.
Alusa and its partner, Brazilian engineering company Queiroz Galvão, will submit a bid for the Siepac project in October.
Alusa and Brazilian state-controlled power company Cemig have already started investing in the 190km, US$60mn Charrúa-Temuco 220kV line in the central-south region of Chile, which was awarded in April this year and will start operations in mid-2008.
Alusa is also building two substations for Chilean transmission company Transelec, Rodrigues said.
In Argentina, a consortium of Alusa and Germany's Va-Tech recently signed a 20mn-peso (US$6.9mn) contract to build a 150km, 132kV line linking two oil fields in the Neuquén basin. The contract is with Neuquén province energy company Epen and oil companies Petrobras Energía, Repsol YPF and Chevron.
"Next year our international operations should be around 10% of total revenues," he said.
São Paulo-based Alusa has a team of 15 specialists who appraise the feasibility of new projects in Brazil and abroad. The expansion plans will also make use of the company's 85 engineers trained to oversee construction and operation of transmission lines.
"We have the capacity to build 1,500km of new lines a year," Rodrigues said.
Alusa currently operates 1,500km of lines in Brazil and another 1,500km that are under construction through stakes in nine different concessions. Total investment in the lines is estimated at around 3bn reais (US$1.3bn).
In Brazil, Alusa is preparing to bid for all 20 lines in seven lots that the federal government will tender in its November 17 auction.
"The regulation for transmission lines operations is good in Brazil, making it a good stable business and this is why we have bid in all the tenders in the last few years," according to Rodrigues.
The company is preparing to bid for all the lines as a controlling partner in consortiums and has registered to partner with state power companies such as Eletrosul and Cemig in the tender, he said.
But this year's tender is expected to be much less competitive than in the last two in 2004, when transmission rates offered were reduced by an average of some 20% from the government-set starting price.
"I suspect that some lines will not get bids from more than one player," said Rodrigues, adding that rising aluminum prices and a reduction in rates set by the government should limit investment returns.
Alusa has recently started a restructuring in which it created a specific power transmission holding company and is preparing to float shares on Brazil's stock market next year.
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