The new plants will have a total installed capacity of 90 MW, enough to generate around 400 GWh a year once completed.
Enel Green Power(“EGP”), through its subsidiary Enel Enel Brasil Participacoes has started construction work on three wind farms in the Brazilian state of Bahia.
The new wind farms, denominated “Cristal”, “Primavera” and “Sao Judas”, are all located in the same area of inner Bahia state. The plants will have a total installed capacity of approximately 90 MW.
Once entered into service, the three wind farms will be able to generate around 400 GWh a year, therefore avoiding the emission of more than 250,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. The overall investment in the completion of the three wind farms amounts to, approximately, 166 million euros.
In September 2010, EGP won a public tender, held in Brazil and solely dedicated to wind power, for the award of three long-term contracts for the sale of electricity from new power plants. The three projects are characterised by ample wind resources and a load factor of about 45%, one of the highest in the world. The wind generators can indeed operate for around 4,000 hours equivalent per year, which is much higher than the European average. Through the tender, EGP also gained the right to sign a 20-year contract to sell the electricity generated by the three plants through the Brazilian government agency CCEE (Chamber of Electrical Energy Commercialization) at a price indexed 100% to Brazilian inflation.
In 2011, Enel Green Power was awarded other electricity supply contracts in Brazil as part of the “New Energy” public tender, with three wind projects for a total installed capacity of 193 MW. The projects are located in the north-east of the country, in the states of Bahia, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte.
Brazil is among the global leaders in the generation of green energy, thanks to approximately 93,000 MW of installed renewable capacity, representing about 85% of the country’s total installed generation capacity.