Why Petrobras could become an offshore wind power pioneer

Federal oil company Petrobras has potential to become a pioneer in Brazil’s offshore wind market, according to Eugenio Singer, country marketing director of multinational consultancy Ramboll.

"Petrobras has knowledge of the Brazilian maritime space like no one else because of oil exploration and production, in partnership with other companies," Singer (pictured) told BNamericas.  

Besides, the firm has enormous economic power and can further enhance its reputation by launching itself into this market, "in full alignment with the government and [local wind association] Abeeólica," Singer said. He added that, as lawmaker, Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates authored a bill to regulate offshore wind generation, so he knows the subject well.

On Wednesday, Petrobras sent environmental agency Ibama a request to start the environmental licensing process for 10 areas for the development of offshore wind projects. 

Of these, three areas are in Rio Grande do Norte, three in Ceará, one each in Maranhão, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo and Rio Grande do Sul. Combined, these areas hold potential for projects with capacity of up to 23GW.

Source: Petrobras

The new undertakings add to the areas being studied jointly with Equinor. The companies are assessing the technical, economic and environmental viability of seven offshore wind power generation projects with a total installed capacity of 14.5GW.

In a statement, Petrobras said the area in Rio de Janeiro state stands out, as it is the only one with water depths of over 100m, making it impossible to use fixed foundations, anchored in the seabed. 

In this case, the installations have to be floating, and feasibility will open up possibilities for integrating and supplying energy to the company's production platforms, Petrobras said.

In the meantime, the company is also studying opportunities abroad, energy transition director, Maurício Tolmasquim, told BNamericas. 

Also on Wednesday, Petrobras announced a strategic partnership with WEG for the joint development of a 7MW onshore wind turbine, the first of this size to be manufactured in Brazil.

The oil company will invest 130mn reais (US$26.6mn) in the project, and WEG expects the wind turbine to be produced in series from 2025. 

"As Petrobras accumulates experience and knowledge in the production of high-capacity onshore wind turbines, it paves the way for the development of larger wind turbines, which will be used in offshore generation projects," Prates said in a statement.

The company is also considering the acquisition of onshore wind farms in Brazil, involving both brownfield and greenfield projects.  

So far, Ibama has received 78 offshore wind project evaluation requests totaling 190GW. 

The requests do not guarantee the right to the areas, which should only happen after a process to be conducted in accordance with the regulations under discussion in the national congress.

Ramboll has already conducted analysis and implementation studies for 20% of the 78 offshore parks under evaluation by Ibama for companies such as Total Eren, Voltalia and Shinzen.

Among them is the Asa Branca offshore complex in Ceará, where Ramboll is responsible for the environmental management process, and whose first module's generation capacity has increased from 720MW to 1,080MW. 

Asa Branca I alone will have the potential to generate 4MMWh/y, with an investment of around 15bn reais. The complex will host 10 equal modules, totaling 10,800MW.

CHALLENGES

In addition to the lack of a regulatory framework, the offshore wind market faces a number of challenges, such as low power demand growth.

In view of this, combining offshore wind projects with green hydrogen plants could be an option for monetizing the extra energy volumes. 

Another problem concerns the local supply chain, which is not prepared to serve the new industry. "If I were to install a 1GW offshore wind farm today, it would be difficult to find power transmission cables on the market," said Singer.

In addition, only the ports of Pecém, in Ceará, Suape, in Pernambuco, and Açu, in Rio de Janeiro, would have the capacity to receive blades for offshore projects in the short term, according to Singer.