Wind Power News: Brazil
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Brazil approves 377 wind farms
Brazilian government energy agency EPE has approved 377 wind projects with a combined installed capacity of 8.999GW. The projects are offered 20-year contracts with delivery starting on January 2015 and a ceiling price of BRL 117/MWh ($50/MWh). The initial price of energy will be R$117.00/MWh. They cover eight states (Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Rio Grande do Sul) with Bahia running 123 schemes and 2.92GW, Rio Grande do Sul with 94 schemes and 2.006GW . . . Complete story »
Brazil wind-farm rule on power cables may scuttle some projects
A new rule that requires Brazil wind-energy companies to shoulder the costs for transmission lines may scuttle some projects and reduce participation in government-organized power auctions, developers said. The country’s power regulator Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica announced yesterday that developers participating in auctions for contracts to sell electricity from wind farms will also have to connect the power plants to the grid, a job that’s currently handled by utilities. Installing transmission lines may boost project costs by about 10 . . . Complete story »
Brazil wind developers may be required to build new power lines
Wind-farm developers in Brazil may be required to assume the costs of connecting their power projects to the grid as the nation seeks to avoid further delays in constructing new transmission lines. A proposed rule will affect developers that win new contracts to sell energy in so-called A-3 government-organized auctions for power projects, Andre Pepitone da Nobrega, director of the country’s power regulator Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica, said today at a conference in Sao Paulo. Brazil is shifting the . . . Complete story »
BNDES shuts $3.5 billion wind market to five companies
Five of the biggest wind-turbine makers have been shut out of Brazil’s $3.5 billion market by the national development bank BNDES after failing to meet local- content requirements. Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS), Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL), Siemens AG (SIE), Acciona SA (ANA) and Fuhrlaender AG aren’t getting at least 40 percent of their parts from local suppliers and are no longer eligible for BNDES financing, the country’s only source of loans for turbines, said Elbia Melo, executive president of . . . Complete story »
Dune-buggy fears halt work at Tractebel wind farm in Brazil
Utility Tractebel Energia has been told to stop work on a wind-farm project in Brazil – partly on the grounds that it would harm the trade in dune-buggy rentals to tourists. A judge ordered an immediate halt to construction of the 25MW Trairi wind farm on a “sunset dune” site in Flecheiras, Ceará state, after backing a lawsuit claiming it would damage a natural asset and the local economy. The lawsuit is the latest escalation of an increasingly aggressive campaign . . . Complete story »
Government drafting long-term energy plan, eyes wind auction
Bazil’s government is drafting a long-term plan to better adapt the energy sector to new realities, Maurício Tolmasquim, president of federal energy planning company EPE, told reporters in Rio de Janeiro. The last plan made power production and demand forecasts through 2030. The new plan, which is due to be ready by the end of 2009, will reflect new figures for oil and derivatives supplies, Tolmasquim said. Other changes will include the successful auctions for the Santo Antônio and Jirau . . . Complete story »
