Enel Green Power has completed the construction of its first wind farm in Brazil, located in Morro do Chapéu (Bahia).
Primavera, the new wind farm, is comprised of thirteen 2.3 MW wind turbines, for a total installed capacity of 30 MW, and is capable of generating over 145 million kWh per year.
The Primavera plant is the first of three to be completed at the Cristal wind power complex. Cristal will have a total installed capacity of 90 MW and is expected to generate more than 400 million kWh per year.
An overall investment of around 165 million euros has been required to construct the Cristal complex.
This new wind farm brings Enel Green Power’s installed capacity in Brazil to more than 120 MW, of which 93 MW from hydro.
Enel Green Power is therefore strengthening its presence in Brazil’s promising renewable energy market. Brazil is among the leading countries in the world in the area of “green” energy, boasting more than 98 thousand MW of installed renewable capacity, which represents around 85% of the country’s total installed capacity.
Enel Green Power has been recently awarded a contract for 11 MW of solar power in Brazil, adding to its 503 MW of wind and hydro that the Italian renewable company obtained in the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Brazilian public auctions. Of these contracts, the completed Primavera plant accounts for 30 MW and another 253 MW is currently under construction. In addition to the Cristal complex, the company is also building the Curva and Serra Azul wind farms in the state of Bahia. The Fontes dos Ventos and Modelo wind farms will be the first built by EGP in the states of Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte. In the photovoltaic sector, Enel Green Power is building a 1.2 MW plant employing thin-film technology that will provide the power need for the construction of three hydroelectric plants (Salto Apiacás, Cabeza de Boi and Fazenda) in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.
Enel Green Power is the Enel Group company fully dedicated to the development and management of renewable energy sources at the international level, with operations in Europe and the Americas. The company generated over 29 billion kWh in 2013 from water, sun, wind and the Earth’s heat - enough to meet the energy needs of more than 10 million households and avoid the emission of over 20 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Enel Green Power is a world leader in the sector thanks to its well-balanced generation mix, providing generation volumes well over the sector average. The company has an installed capacity of approximately 8,900 MW from a mix of sources including wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass. Currently, the company has approximately 750 plants operating in 16 countries in Europe and the Americas.
In Latin America, Enel Green Power currently runs renewable energy plants in Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Chile and Brazil, with a total installed capacity of 1,110 MW as of today. Specifically, in the wind sector, in addition to an approximate 253 MW in wind projects in Brazil, the company has 24 MW of installed wind capacity in Costa Rica, 144 MW in Mexico (and another 100 MW under construction) as well as 180 MW in Chile, where the company is also constructing the 99 MW Taltal wind farm. With its century-long experience in the field of geothermal energy, Enel Green Power is also developing new opportunities in this sector. Again in Chile, the company is exploring several concessions with a potential capacity exceeding 100 MW.
In Brazil, through Endesa, the Enel Group also operates around 1 GW of installed capacity, while in the distribution field, with some 6 million customers, the Group operates in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Cearà. In the transmission sector, Endesa operates an interconnection line between Brazil and Argentina.