Enel Green Power is to add 193 MW of wind power to its Brazilian portfolio after being awarded three projects in the country’s latest New Energy Auction.
Enel will build the three projects in the northeast of Brazil and is expected to commission them by 2014. The estimated investment for the projects is €330 million, says the Italian firm.
Winning the concessions in the auction grants Enel the right to sell defined energy volumes from the wind farms to a pool of regulated distribution companies for 20 years. Additional energy volumes will be sold to the liberalized market through long term pre-established commitments.
Enel Green Power says that its existing wind farms have “outstanding” capacity factors of over 45 per cent. The three new projects are an important step forward in the company’s strategy to expand in Latin America.
“We see excellent conditions for a sustainable and large development of renewables in Brazil,” said Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel Green Power.
The three Brazilian wind farms will generate up to 770 GWh per year, enough energy to serve around 500 000 Brazilian households. The wind farms – located in Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco and Bahia states – will help the country to meet rising power demand.
One of the projects will be executed in consortium with Endesa.
Enel Green Power was awarded 90 MW of wind power capacity in Brazil’s new energy auctions last year, and already has 93 MW of hydropower capacity operating in the country.
