GE Renewable Energy announced last month that it had successfully installed 5,000 megawatts worth of wind energy capacity in Brazil, making it the first company to accomplish the milestone.
Announced in Rio de Janeiro at the Brazil Windpower conference at the end of August, American GE Renewable Energy revealed that they had successfully completed the installation of 5,000 megawatts (MW) worth of wind energy capacity in Brazil, the first company to reach the milestone and solidifying the company’s role in the country’s renewable energy expansion.
“Brazil is an important market for GE Renewable Energy,” said Jean-Claude Robert, general manager for Onshore Wind in Latin America. “We believe in the growth potential of wind and renewable energy, and we are committed to providing affordable, reliable, sustainable energy to customers across Brazil. We are confident we can continue to grow by using the combined resources of GE — what we call the GE Store — to meet the needs of the wind power industry.”
All in all, GE Renewable Energy has installed more than 2,700 wind turbines and represents around 33% of all wind energy installed across Brazil. The country currently has 10,740 MW worth of wind energy installed and sits as one of the world’s major markets for future wind energy development — although there are fears that the country may see a slowdown in installation soon. Figures published by MAKE Consulting in May conclude that political and economic instability in the country are expected to hamper wind development. While Brazil installed an impressive 2.5 GW (gigawatts) worth of new wind capacity in 2016, and exceeded 2.4 GW worth of capacity additions three years running, “MAKE predicts an impending cliff from 2019 due to slumping demand for electricity.” Further, there were no new wind Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed in 2016, and Brazil’s highly anticipated reserve power auction was cancelled within days of its intended date.
As part of the total 5,000 MW installed are three projects which will reach commissioning (ie, wind turbine installation completion) by the end of September. These projects include:
- The Ventos Araripe III wind farm, in partnership with Casa dos Ventos, in Chapada do Araripe (PI), made up of 156 of GE’s 2.3-116/107 turbines.
- The Caldeirão I wind farm, developed with customer Queiroz Galvão, also in Chapada do Araripe (PI), consisting of 70 of GE’s 2.7-122 turbines.
- The PEC Expansion in Guaranhuns (PE), which will add 22 turbines to the wind farm, increasing the number of operational turbines to 75.
While GE Renewable Energy and other wind energy developers and manufacturers are targeting Brazil for future development expansion, it is not necessarily clear just yet whether the country has the ambition or the political willpower to match.
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