Brazil to set up Rio Grande do Norte offshore wind test site

Brazil’s industrial training service Senai is planning to set up an offshore wind test site off the coast of Rio Grande do Norte state, a source familiar with the matter told BNamericas. 

The aim is for the enterprise to become a reference site for testing offshore wind turbines for the country, providing the tools for evaluating the generation performance of this machinery in a maritime environment. 

In addition, it will provide data to analyze how all the processes inherent to the offshore wind sector in Brazil will work, indicating challenges and possible barriers to be overcome in order to leverage this new source of energy. 

The site will have two turbines, one 8.5MW and the other 16MW. They will be installed on the continental shelf off the northern coast of Rio Grande do Norte, at an average distance of 15-17km from the coast and in water depths of approximately 6-8m. 

The turbines will be connected to Porto Ilha, with the energy flowing to a substation that will be built at Porto Ilha port in Areia Branca, with the energy produced used by Porto Ilha itself. 

The test site is the result of research carried out by the Senai institute for innovation in renewable energies (ISI-ER), in partnership with the Brazilian company DOIS A Engenharia e Tecnologia and Spanish firm Esteyco. 

Dois A has been in the civil construction business for over 50 years, pioneering the construction of the infrastructure needed to set up wind farms and solar power plants in various locations in Brazil, under the responsibility of a professional team focused on studies for rationalization, budgeting, planning and execution. 

Esteyco, which has also been in the market for over 50 years, is an engineering and architectural consultancy company that has pioneered the development of alternative offshore wind construction technology, including that set to be adopted in the Brazilian project. 

The wind turbines will be supplied by Goldwind Americas, an established company in the field of R&D, project development, turbine manufacturing, project management/supervision and after-sales services. 

Installation of the site still requires authorization from local authorities. 

OUTLOOK

On July 16, the mines and energy ministry (MME) received the study “Scenarios for the Development of Offshore Wind in Brazil”, which was drawn up by the World Bank Group, in partnership with Brazilian federal energy research company EPE. The document evaluated three scenarios for implementing this energy source in Brazil. 

The most ambitious scenario indicates that offshore wind energy could generate more than 516,000 jobs by 2050 and bring a gross added value of at least 900bn reais (US$162bn) to the national economy. 

According to the study, this energy source has a technical potential of more than 1,200GW, which represents four times the country's current installed capacity.

Offshore wind power generation in Brazil could start within 8-10 years in a “very optimistic” scenario, according to sector association Abeeólica. 

The development of the market relies on the approval of a regulatory framework, which is being analyzed in the national congress. 

According to the federal environmental regulator Ibama, offshore wind undertakings involving capacity of 234GW are already being assessed.