Enel to Build 5 New Clean Energy Plants in Brazil


Share this post
Enel to Build 5 New Clean Energy Plants in Brazil

The Enel Group started the construction of five new renewable energy power plants in the north-east of Brazil. The 5 projects include four wind farms and one solar power plants with a cumulative capacity of 1.3 GW.

In the state of Piauí, the company is building the 396 MW Lagoa dos Ventos III wind farm and the 256 MW São Gonçalo III solar farm. The other three wind power projects – Morro do Chapéu Sul II (353 MW), Cumaru (206 MW) and Fontes dos Ventos II (99 MW) – are being built in Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco states respectively.

Enel’s investment in these projects will amount to about R$5.6 billion (about US$1.1 billion). The bulk of power generated by the new plants will be sold under agreements to supply corporate customers on the Brazilian open energy market.

The plants are expected to be commissioned in 2021, except for the Lagoa dos Ventos III, which is due to start commercial operation in 2022. Once fully operational, the five new plants will be able to generate more than 5.5 TWh per year, avoiding annual emissions of around 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The 396 MW Lagoa dos Ventos III is located in the municipality of Dom Inocencio in the state of Piauí, where the company is building the 716 MW Lagoa dos Ventos wind farm, which is Enel Green Power’s largest wind farm in the world. Once the new 396MW phase is operational, with an investment of about USD 353 million, the total capacity of Lagoa dos Ventos will reach about 1.1GW.

The 256 MW São Gonçalo III wind farm, which will require an investment of around US$142 million, is located in the municipality of São Gonçalo do Gurguéia in the state of Piauí, where the 608 MW São Gonçalo solar plant is already in operation, of which 475 MW has already been commissioned, and an additional 133 MW phase is in the final stages of construction. When the new 256MW phase is built, the total installed capacity of São Gonçalo, the largest solar power plant in South America, will be around 864MW.

The 353MW Morro do Chapéu Sul II power plant is located in the municipalities of Morro do Chapéu and Cafarnaum, in Bahia, in the same region where the 172MW Morro do Chapéu Sul wind farm, which went into operation in January 2018, already operates. The construction of Morro do Chapéu Sul II will require an investment of around $340 million.

The 206MW Cumaru wind farm is located in the municipality of São Miguel do Gostoso in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, and around $184 million will be invested in its construction.

The 99MW Fontes dos Ventos II wind farm is located in the municipality of Takaratu in the state of Pernambuco, where Enel Green Power has operated Brazil's first hybrid wind-solar power plant since 2015, combining the Fontes dos Ventos I wind farm and the Fontes Solar solar farm with a combined installed capacity of 89.9MW. Construction of Fontes dos Ventos II will require an investment of about $84 million.

These power plants are being built with a range of innovative solutions to improve safety, quality and efficiency, including active safety devices, automated machines, drones, remote support and digital tools for use in day-to-day work operations.

In Brazil, the Enel Group, through its subsidiaries EGPB and Enel Brasil, owns and operates renewable energy facilities with a combined installed capacity of more than 3.4 GW, of which 1,210 MW is wind, 979 MW is solar and 1,269 MW is hydro.

Share this post