Elecnor to start Osório construction in Jul

Spanish wind power company Elecnor plans to start building the USS$230mn, 150MW Osório wind power project in the southernmost Rio Grande do Sul state on July 1, the state energy, mines and communications department said in a statement. "The topographic measurements have been carried out and the holes for the towers' foundations are being dug," a department spokesperson told BNamericas. The state government had previously announced the start of construction for May. The start of commercial operations is scheduled 18 months after construction starts as the company plans to install one 2MW turbine a week, the statement said. The complex will be divided into three 50MW sites, each of which will have 25 turbines. Brazilian company Wobben Windpower will make the turbines and the 98m-high concrete posts for the project at state capital Porto Alegre. The project has been included in the federal government's renewable energy source program Proinfa through which federal power holding company Eletrobrás will buy the power produced at Osório for the coming 20 years. Brazil's national development bank BNDES is expected to finance up to 80% of the project's value, the spokesperson said. Around the end of the third quarter this year, Innovent and Eletrobrás aim to start building in the state a second 70MW wind power generation project, also part of the Proinfa program. Elecnor plans to start building the 7.5MW Palmares do Sul wind power project by the end of the second half, the spokesperson said. Brazil's total wind generation capacity is currently 28MW, all in the country's northeastern region.