Updated October 6, 2025 – New Fortress Energy (NFE) has achieved first fire at its 624 MW CELBA 2 power plant located in Barcarena, Pará, northern Brazil. The milestone marks the successful ignition of the plant’s gas turbines, initiating the hot commissioning phase.
The CELBA 2 facility is a key component of New Fortress Energy’s integrated gas and power hub in Barcarena. Additionally, it is also designed to provide stable and dispatchable baseload electricity in a region historically reliant on hydro generation.
Once operational, the plant will be fueled by imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplied through NFE’s Barcarena LNG terminal. This creates a vertically integrated system linking LNG supply, re-gasification, and power generation.
Commercial operations are expected to start later in 2025. This will be following system testing and grid synchronization. The plant will go on to join the first power plant in Brazil to use natural gas sourced from the pre-salt offshore oil & gas layers for electricity generation: the .
Barcarena CELBA 2 Power Plant: Project Factsheet
Location: Barcarena, Pará State, Brazil
Developer: New Fortress Energy
Project Type: LNG-to-Power facility
Configuration: Gas-fired combined-cycle power plant
Installed Capacity: 624 MW
Fuel Source: LNG supplied via NFE’s Barcarena LNG terminal
Use: Provide reliable baseload power and grid stability for northern Brazil
Key Milestone: First fire achieved on October 6, 2025
Expected COD: Late 2025
Current Status: Hot commissioning underway
Barcarena CELBA 2 Power Plant: Timeline
2021: New Fortress Energy (NFE) announces plans to develop multiple LNG-to-power assets in Brazil, including the CELBA 2 site at Barcarena, Pará
2022: Engineering, procurement, and early construction activities begin. NFE also advances development of the Barcarena LNG terminal to support the project’s fuel supply
2023: Major construction milestones achieved. These include turbine installation and grid interconnection preparation
Early 2025: Commissioning phase begins. Systems integration and pre-startup testing also carried out
October 6, 2025: NFE confirms first fire, marking initial turbine ignition and start of the hot commissioning process.
CELBA 2
CELBA 2 forms part of New Fortress Energy’s broader 2.2 GW Brazilian generation portfolio, which also includes the 1.6 GW PortoCem Power Plant in Ceará, currently about 75 % complete with COD targeted for August 2026. Together, these projects continue to advance NFE’s strategy to expand its Latin American gas-to-power asset base and reinforce Brazil’s grid with reliable, lower-emission capacity.
The Barcarena power plant also positions NFE to play a central role in meeting northern Brazil’s industrial and energy demand growth. It is also seen as a step toward a phased transition from heavy fuel oil and diesel to LNG-based generation. Also noteworthy is that New Fortress Energy reached a milestone agreement for long-term LNG supply with the Puerto Rican Government on September 16, 2025. This goes to underscore the aforementioned sentiment on energy transition in the region.
Work on Barcarena Power Plant in Progress
Reported November 8, 2023 – With the recent execution of definitive agreements to raise up to $575 million in asset-based financing, New Fortress Energy is progressing further with its Barcarena power plant project. Lumina Capital Management, BTG Asset Management, and the Brazilian development bank BNDES will all provide the capital.
NFE states that these financings would be used to conclude the construction of its 630 MW Barcarena power plant. This is in accordance with a fixed-price, date-certain EPC contract with Mitsubishi and Toyo Setal. The project is currently around 37% complete.
The plant is expected to commence operations in the third quarter of 2025. This is according to a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The agreement was entered into with a number of Brazilian electricity distribution companies.
Barcarena Power Plant’s location
It sits next to NFE’s LNG import terminal facility at the mouth of the Amazon River.
According to NFE, the company’s plan to convert the LNG carrier Energos Celsius into a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) is still on schedule to be completed in November 2023. This will allow for the first gas to be delivered to consumers at the Barcarena import terminal by the end of 2023. NFE has granted Energos Celsius a long-term charter from Energos Infrastructure.
It also ought to be noted that recently, NFE confirmed the execution of a definitive agreement to charter the FSRU Energos Winter from Petrobras. The state-owned gas and oil company in Brazil will commence this charter in December 2023.
NFE claims that this FSRU is expected to be deployed at Terminal Gas Sul (TGS). The terminal is the company’s newest LNG import terminal. It is said that the facility is situated in Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is projected that TGS will commence commercial operations in January 2024. This is ahead of schedule, unlike what was expected.
New Fortress Energy continues to take part in the global transition to clean, cheap, and reliable energy with projects such as this.
