State Grid Corp asks Brazil to speed up power line approval

State Grid Corp of China has asked the Brazilian government and regulators to speed up environmental licensing of a planned power line connecting to the Belo Monte dam in the Amazon forest, according to official documents and a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

State Grid, the world's biggest utility, fears it could have to delay construction of the line, possibly forcing the third-largest hydroelectric power dam to begin operating in 2019 below full capacity.

Belo Monte, a dam built on the Xingu River in the Amazon forest, will have a total installed capacity of 11,233 megawatts, exceeded only by China's Three Gorges and Brazil's Itaipu dams.