RIO DE JANEIRO – Energy ministers from Brazil and Peru announced details of plans for several hydroelectric plants to be built in the Andean nation, saying after a meeting that 80 percent of the energy generated by the stations would go to Brazil and the rest to Peru.

Both partners will have the right to sell their respective energy quotas to other South American countries, Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said Friday after a meeting in Rio de Janeiro with his Peruvian counterpart, Pedro Sanchez.

The first five power stations – to be built in Peru’s eastern lowlands at a cost of between $12-15 billion – will generate a combined total of 6,000 megawatts annually once they come on stream in 2015.

Lobao said the two governments also have reached agreement on another 10 plants that will eventually bring the total combined output to some 20,000 megawatts.

Brazilian state energy company Eletrobras, Brazilian state development bank BNDES and the consortium of private companies carrying out the project’s feasibility studies will cover the cost of the plants’ construction.

“Other sources interested in the process” could also contribute funding, the Brazilian minister said.

Lobao denied that Brazil needs more energy “at this time” and said it decided to build the plants in Peru to support regional “integration.”

“We have energy to supply all our needs. What we’re looking after are geo-political interests” affecting Brazil, Peru and other Southern Cone countries, the minister said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Peruvian counterpart Alan Garcia signed a letter of intent in April to build the plants during a meeting in Rio Branco, capital of the western Brazilian border state of Acre.