Offshore Wind Farms Under Licensing in Brazil Add up to 80 GW of Power

(epbr) Projects for wind power generation in Brazilian waters add up to 80 gigawatts (GW) of power, according to January 27 data from Ibama. The growth is significant compared to last year – in July, the projects totaled 42 GW.

The amouint is almost four times the current installed capacity of onshore projects in Brazil, which in January reached the mark of 21 GW.

This month alone, 12 new projects, totaling just over 25 GW of power, have filed for licensing with Ibama.

In all, the 80 GW under development are spread across 36 projects in six states. Of this total, 15 parks overlap or have turbines planned less than 2,000 meters from wind turbines with an older licensing process.

One of the bottlenecks for these projects to get off the ground, regulation started to take steps this week.

The government issued a decree to regulate offshore electricity generation. The measure was well received by the state governments of Ceará and Rio de Janeiro.

The two states have several offshore wind projects under licensing at IBAMA and believe that this is an important step for them to be implemented.

But it has also been criticized. The minority leader in the Senate, Jean Paul Prates (PT/RN), believes that the decree that promises to unlock investments for offshore wind generation, further messes up the rules for the sector and can be considered unconstitutional.

Prates is the author of PL 576/21, which creates a regulatory framework for the process of granting offshore wind farms with auctions and charges the payment of special participations to the Union, states and municipalities – resources that are not provided for in the presidential decree.

Offshore wind farms under licensing in Brazil:

Ceará

There are seven: Caucaia (BI Energia), Jangada (Neoenergia), Camocim (BI Energia), Dragão do Mar (Qair), Alpha (Veritas), Costa Nordeste (Geradora Eólica Brigadeiro) and Asa Branca I (Eólica Brasil).

Alpha Park is the largest in the state, and the second largest in terms of licensing in the country.

The group applied for a license in September 2021 for 400 towers with a power of 15 MW each, totaling 6 GW.

Also noteworthy is the Qair project.

In July, the multinational Qair Brasil signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Ceará for the production of green hydrogen, in the hub that is being articulated in the Industrial and Port Complex of Pecém.

Qair projects a capacity of 2.2 GW for the production of green hydrogen, through electrolysis, and will use electricity generated in the Dragão do Mar Maritime Wind Complex and in an offshore park.

The project under licensing at Ibama will have 128 turbines, totaling 1.2 GW of power.

The state has an overlapping project: Costa Nordeste, which filed for licensing this year, is located very close to three other projects.

There are three projects under licensing, totaling 3.1 GW, all overlapping.

The Votu Winds park is the largest of them, with 1,440 MW of power, based on the installation of 144 towers with a power of 10 MW each.

Piauí

Two parks. Vento Tupi, owned by OW Offshore (Ocean Winds), Engie and EDP, is licensing the installation of 74 wind turbines 14 kilometers from the coast, to generate 999 MW of power.

Palmas do Mar, owned by Bosford Participações, will have 93 turbines, generating a total of 1,395 MW.

The demarcation of Ventos Tupi and Palmas do Mar areas is very close, with a slight overlap.

Rio de Janeiro

The state concentrates almost 21.5 GW of power in the seven parks under licensing.

Ventos do Atlântico, owned by OW Offshore, is the largest in Rio, and the third largest in the country, with 371 wind turbines and just over 5 GW of power.

Next comes Equinor’s Aracatu park, with 3.8 GW of capacity and 320 turbines.

Bromélia, by Bluefloat Energy, is expected to occupy an area that overlaps with Equinor’s park and with another venture by Bluefloat itself, Quaresmeira.

The group filed licensing applications this year.

Rio Grande do Norte

Of the seven parks under licensing, five compete for the same area in Rio Grande do Norte.

Pedra Grande (operated by BI Energia, with 624 MW of power), Maral (OW Offshore, 2 GW), Alísios Potiguares (Bosford, 1.8 GW), Ventos Potiguar (Internacional Energias, 2.4 GW) and Cattleya (Bluefloat Energy, 1.2 GW) have overlapping designs.

Rio Grande do Sul

This year alone, five enterprises have applied for licensing with Ibama. Three are from Geradora Eólica Brigadeiro, two from Bluefloat Energy.

The state has the largest number of projects under licensing, with 10 parks totaling around 23.6 GW of power. Of these, seven have some level of overlap.

The largest park is Ventos do Sul, owned by OW Offshore. With 6.5 GW, and 482 turbines located 21 kilometers off the coast, it is also the largest in Brazil so far.